The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday verbally observed that pending appeals against voter deletions under the Special Intensive Revision process “will take 21 years for all appeals to be disposed of” if the appellate tribunals function at the current pace, The Times of India reported.
The court made the verbal observation while hearing the case of a man whose application for an urgent passport was pending as his name was removed from the electoral rolls. The bench declined to direct the authorities to process the passport application, but told the appellate tribunal hearing special intensive revision cases to expedite the hearing of his appeal.
“Unless declared to be a citizen of India, you cannot be given passport,” Justice Kausik Chanda told the man, according to The Times of India.
The petitioner, Sirajul Shekh, a Cooch Behar resident, approached the court after his passport application had been put on hold during police verification after his Electoral Photo Identity Card number became invalid following the deletion of his name from the electoral roll.
He told the court he required a passport to seek medical treatment abroad for a gastrointestinal illness.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel argued that a voter identity card is not a mandatory document under the 1967 Passports Act or the 1980 Passports Rules in cases where identity, address and date of birth are otherwise established, The Wire reported.
The counsel also argued that a voter identity card is not proof of citizenship and submitted that the Supreme Court had held in a separate case that deletion from the electoral roll during the voter roll revision process is not a determination of non-citizenship.
The case comes days after former The Telegraph editor R Rajagopal received his renewed passport months after his application was delayed following his removal from West Bengal’s electoral rolls during the voter roll revision exercise.
Rajagopal had said then that the resolution of his case did not address the broader problem, adding that “unless and until there is policy clarity on this issue, it is difficult to claim any real relief”.
Voter roll revision and citizenship
The special intensive revision of voter rolls in West Bengal was carried out before the Assembly elections in April.
Final rolls published in February initially excluded more than 61 lakh voters, with the process continuing through supplementary lists and adjudication of about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases.
By April 6, about 91 lakh voters, nearly 11.9% of West Bengal’s electorate before the revision process began, had been removed from the electoral rolls.
Ahead of the Assembly elections, about 34 lakh appeals were reportedly pending before appellate tribunals. Of these, 27 lakh were filed by persons who were excluded from the voter list. The tribunals, set up as part of the special intensive revision process, had allowed 1,607 names to be added back to the electoral rolls.
The voter list revision has taken place in several other states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the past year. The third phase is underway in 16 states and three Union Territories.
On May 27, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission, saying that the exercise “advances the constitutional imperative of free and fair elections”.
However, the court said that the poll panel’s inquiries for the purpose of including a person in the voter list do not mean that it can decide whether the person is an Indian citizen.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs reiterated that the passport is a travel document and not proof of citizenship.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
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