New Delhi: Petitioners before the Supreme Court argued that the Special Intensive Revision process has crossed its legal limits and created a citizenship verification system without approval from Parliament. They said the Election Commission of India has no authority to ask voters to prove citizenship under the cover of a voter list revision exercise. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi heard the matter.
Senior Advocate A M Singhvi said the SIR asks voters to establish citizenship even after their names appear on the rolls. He cited the Lal Babu Hussein judgment where the Court held that inclusion in the voter list creates a presumption of citizenship and the burden lies on the objector. He said the SIR reverses this rule and forces ordinary citizens to defend their status. He argued that only the Union government and tribunals under the Citizenship Act and Foreigners Tribunal Act can assess citizenship.
He said the SIR instructs electoral officers to examine documents, flag suspected non citizens and report them to Home Departments. He warned that this creates an indirect NRC without legal sanction. He also questioned the 2003 cut off for additional scrutiny and said the requirement to show family details targets voters who joined the list after that year. He said this classification violates Article 14.
Advocate Vrinda Grover presented Bihar voter data to show the sharp fall of women voters within six months. She said female voters fell from 3 crore 70 lakh in January to 3 crore 49 lakh in July and the sex ratio dropped from 914 to 892. She linked this to document barriers faced by women, especially after marriage and relocation.
