SIR: AEROs asked to seek ‘citizenship certificate’ from suspected foreign nationals, despite Indian passport

With hearings of notices under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) under way, Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) said they are being asked to identify voters whom they suspect are foreign nationals from Nepal or Bangladesh and demand “citizenship certificates” from them, even when they produce an Indian passport.

A few of AEROs that The Hindu spoke to said they were “bypassing” these instructions in most cases, but claimed that they were under pressure during weekly meetings, where they were repeatedly told to seek citizenship certificates and no other documents.

Explaining their concerns, one AERO said, “If a person has an Indian passport, is it not enough to establish that they are Indian? How do we ask a person who has all the documents to show a citizenship certificate? A citizenship certificate is not even mentioned in the indicative list of documents.”