Supreme Court On SIR: "Exclusion From Voter List Doesn't Mean Citizenship Ends"

The Election Commission's powers in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls are limited to determining eligibility for inclusion in electoral rolls and do not extend to ascertaining citizenship status, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday. The top court held that the SIR exercise does not confer any exclusive or unfettered power upon the ECI to decide citizenship questions. Free and fair elections do not rest merely upon mechanics of polling, the top court said, upholding the power of the Election Commission to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of electoral rolls. The top court made it clear that an exclusion from a voter list does not mean that a person loses citizenship.