{"id":57067,"date":"2025-07-28T11:44:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T06:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=57067"},"modified":"2025-10-08T11:09:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T05:39:27","slug":"daily-editorial-analysis-28-july-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/daily-editorial-analysis-28-july-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Editorial Analysis 28 July 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Clearing the Air on \u2018Citizenship\u2019 in Bihar Poll Roll Revision<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The question of <strong>who is eligible to vote in India is not merely an administrative concern but a foundational issue<\/strong> that touches the very core of Indian democracy.<\/li>\n<li>At the heart of this issue lies <strong>the principle that only Indian citizens are entitled to participate in the electoral process. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Yet, <strong>controversy has emerged over the Election Commission of India\u2019s (ECI) move to conduct a Special Intensive Revision<\/strong> of electoral rolls in Bihar.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Critics of the move argue against the verification of citizenship<\/strong>, betraying either a lack of understanding of the Constitution or <strong>a willingness to ignore its mandates for political expediency.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Citizenship as a Prerequisite for Electoral Participation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>According to <strong>Article 326<\/strong> of the Indian Constitution, elections to both the House of the People and the Legislative Assemblies of <strong>states must be based on adult suffrage. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>However, this <strong>right is explicitly limited to individuals who are citizens of India<\/strong> and are not less than eighteen years of age.<\/li>\n<li>Further, <strong>they must not be disqualified by any law made by the appropriate legislature.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Therefore, the <strong>right to vote is inextricably linked with Indian citizenship<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>This <strong>constitutional principle is reiterated in<\/strong> <strong>The Representation of the People Act, 1950<\/strong>, which provides a detailed legal framework for the preparation and maintenance of electoral rolls.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>The Role of the Election Commission of India<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Election Commission<\/strong>, under <strong>Article 324<\/strong>, is constitutionally mandated <strong>to supervise and manage the conduct of elections<\/strong> and the preparation of electoral rolls.<\/li>\n<li>This <strong>includes revising electoral rolls<\/strong> irrespective of whether elections are impending.<\/li>\n<li>The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling in <strong>Lakshmi Charan Sen v. A.K.M. Hassan Uzzaman (1985) reaffirms that such revision is a continuous process<\/strong> under the Commission\u2019s purview.<\/li>\n<li>Under this framework, <strong>the ECI has both the authority and the duty to ensure that only eligible citizens are enrolled as voters. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>This <strong>includes verifying the authenticity of voter claims<\/strong> and deleting names found to be ineligible.<\/li>\n<li>Sections <strong>15 to 24<\/strong> <strong>of the 1950 Act codify these processes<\/strong>, with <strong>Section 16<\/strong> specifically disqualifying non-citizens from voter registration.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Section 16(2)<\/strong> <strong>empowers the deletion of names wrongly included<\/strong> in the electoral rolls, thereby reinforcing the necessity of verifying citizenship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Legal and Constitutional Disqualifications<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The connection between citizenship and legislative eligibility is <strong>not limited to voting alone. One must be a voter to become a legislator. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Consequently, <strong>non-citizens cannot contest elections<\/strong> for Parliament or State Assemblies.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Articles 102 and 191<\/strong> <strong>of the Constitution make this abundantly clear<\/strong> by disqualifying any individual who is not an Indian citizen, or who voluntarily acquires foreign citizenship or allegiance to another country, from legislative membership.<\/li>\n<li>To suggest that <strong>a non-citizen can vote or hold legislative office would thus directly contradict constitutional provisions<\/strong> and undermine the very fabric of Indian democracy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Criteria for Inclusion in Electoral Roll <\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><strong>Overseas Citizens<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Further clarity is offered by <strong>The Citizenship Act, 1955<\/strong>, particularly through <strong>Sections 7A and 7B<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>While the Act allows for the registration of Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs), <strong>Section 7B(2)<\/strong> <strong>clearly denies OCIs the right to vote<\/strong>, thus reinforcing the constitutional restriction that only full citizens may be included in electoral rolls.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h4><strong>Residency, Lawful Presence, and Electoral Rolls<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>A key criterion for inclusion in the electoral roll is that <strong>the person must be ordinarily resident in a constituency. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>However, <strong>as held in Dr. Yogesh Bhardwaj v. State of U.P. (1990), unlawful residence cannot be equated with ordinary residence. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Staying in India in violation of immigration laws does not make one eligible to vote<\/strong> or to claim any residency-based entitlement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Aadhaar and Citizenship: No Equivalence<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Another area of confusion arises from the possession of an Aadhaar card, for, some have <strong>mistakenly assumed that Aadhaar serves as proof of citizenship<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>However, <strong>The Aadhaar Act, 2016<\/strong>, explicitly clarifies in <strong>Section 9<\/strong> that neither an Aadhaar number nor its authentication confers citizenship or domicile status.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Section 3<\/strong> further states that <strong>the card is only for residents, not necessarily citizens<\/strong>, making it legally <strong>insufficient for voter registration purposes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>electoral system\u2019s legitimacy depends on the integrity of its voter base,<\/strong> which, by constitutional and statutory mandate, must be comprised solely of Indian citizens.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The ECI<\/strong>, as the custodian of India\u2019s electoral machinery, is <strong>duty-bound to ensure this through verification mechanisms and roll revisions. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Any lapse in doing so would constitute a serious breach of constitutional responsibility<\/strong> and could potentially allow the dilution of Indian democracy by non-citizen participation.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>objections raised against the ECI\u2019s revision<\/strong> initiative in Bihar are therefore <strong>not only misplaced but fundamentally contrary to the constitutional ethos.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Clearing the Air on \u2018Citizenship\u2019 in Bihar Poll Roll Revision FAQs<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Q1. <\/strong>Who is eligible to vote in Indian elections?<strong><br \/>\nAns. <\/strong>A person is eligible to vote in Indian elections only if they are a citizen of India and at least 18 years of age.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2. <\/strong>What legal provision disqualifies non-citizens from voting?<strong><br \/>\nAns. <\/strong>Section 16(1)(a) of The Representation of the People Act, 1950 disqualifies non-citizens from being registered as voters.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3. <\/strong>Can possession of an Aadhaar card prove Indian citizenship?<strong><br \/>\nAns. <\/strong>No, possession of an Aadhaar card does not prove Indian citizenship, as clarified by Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4. <\/strong>What is the role of the Election Commission in maintaining voter rolls?<strong><br \/>\nAns. <\/strong>The Election Commission is responsible for ensuring that only eligible Indian citizens are included in the electoral rolls and must revise and verify the lists regularly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q5. <\/strong>Can a non-citizen become a Member of Parliament or State Legislature?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans. <\/strong>No, a non-citizen cannot become a Member of Parliament or State Legislature, as the Constitution requires all legislators to be Indian citizens under Articles 102 and 191.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/clearing-the-air-on-citizenship-in-bihar-poll-roll-revision\/article69862395.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Hindu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daily Editorial Analysis 28 July 2025 by Vajiram &#038; Ravi covers key editorials from The Hindu &#038; Indian Express with UPSC-focused insights and relevance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":50653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[141,882,909],"class_list":{"0":"post-57067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-daily-editorial-analysis","8":"tag-daily-editorial-analysis","9":"tag-the-hindu-editorial-analysis","10":"tag-the-indian-express-analysis","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}