India Supreme Court Rules Voter‑List Deletion Does Not Cancel Citizenship

The Supreme Court of India, in a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant with Justices Jayamalya Bagchi and V., held that the Election Commission of India lacks authority to determine citizenship. The court clarified that removal from the electoral roll only disqualifies a person from voting and does not revoke Indian citizenship.

The ruling came during hearings on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in West Bengal. The Court emphasized the need for transparency in the roll‑revision and urged the establishment of an appeal mechanism for those whose names are wrongly deleted. Approximately 3.4 million appeals are pending before 19 appellate tribunals, with only about 38 000 resolved so far; about 70 % of those were accepted.

A further hearing is scheduled for 25 August.