The Election Commission of India (ECI) has made it mandatory for voters in Bihar to furnish documentary proof of citizenship as part of a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, ahead of assembly elections scheduled later this year. This is the first such revision in the state since 2003.
The move marks a significant tightening of voter verification norms, with the ECI aiming to weed out illegal immigrants from the electoral rolls, a concern particularly acute in Bihar and neighbouring regions prone to cross-border migration.
The process of verification falls in different categories, depending on a person’s date of birth. Persons born before July 1, 1987, have to submit a document establishing their date and place of birth. Those between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004, they must provide, in addition, a document for either of their parents. Those born after December 2, 2004 must also provide documents for both their parents. If any one of the parents is not an Indian citizen, then the passport of the parent in question along with the visa when the person was born.
These requirements broadly mirror the legal provisions for citizenship by birth as outlined in Section 3 of The Citizenship Act, 1955. That law has tightened citizenship by birth on the basis of a person’s date of birth.
The trouble in a vast country like India–one that is surrounded by countries from where illegal migration into has been rampant—the enforcement of these provisions of the law has been lax or has been subverted by illegal migrants acquiring citizenship documents by fraud. The problem is particularly acute in Eastern and North-Eastern India and Bihar falls in this zone of concern.
Excerpt from “NRC by another name? EC makes proof of place of birth must in Bihar,” published in the OPEN Magazine on June 25, 2025.Read more here: https://openthemagazine.com/feature/nrc-by-another-name-ec-makes-proof-of-place-of-birth-must-in-bihar/
