Supreme Court takes up NGO bid to add persecuted minorities to voter rolls

Following brief submissions by senior advocate Karuna Nundy on behalf of the NGO ‘Aatmadeep’, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi listed the matter for hearing on December 9.

It will be taken up alongside petitions challenging the special intensive revision of the voter list in West Bengal.

According to the petitioner, nearly 50,000 people who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, qualify for protection and eventual citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019.

Citing Section 6B of the CAA, the NGO argued that many applicants have already applied for certificates of registration but have yet to receive them.

The prolonged delays in issuing citizenship documents, combined with the refusal to accept acknowledgement receipts during the ongoing special intensive revision, have created what it termed a “serious constitutional crisis.”

"These individuals, recognised by Parliament as persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, now face the threat of statelessness, social marginalisation and disenfranchisement," it said.

The NGO emphasised that acknowledgement receipts generated during online submission serve as the primary official record of an application filed under the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

In the absence of timely processing, the receipts should be treated as valid provisional proof of pending citizenship claims — at least for limited civil purposes such as inclusion or retention in electoral rolls during the revision exercise, it added.

Senior advocate Karuna Nundy, speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, said, “Today, we appeared on behalf of Atmadeep, an organisation from West Bengal that works with persecuted minorities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan — predominantly Hindus, but also Christians, Parsis and Buddhists."

"We requested the Chief Justice to ensure that their pending applications under the CAA are decided expeditiously. Some applicants filed as far back as 2014 or earlier, yet their cases remain unresolved," she said.

The senior advocate said many of these individuals have already been included in the electoral rolls, and the law is clear that an existing right cannot be taken away.

"We are seeking that their names continue provisionally until the voter list is finalised," Nundy said.

“Those who are not yet on the rolls should be provisionally included on the basis of their pending applications," she added.

"India has extended shelter to these persecuted minorities, and the central government itself has recognised that they must be granted citizenship," the advocate said. "What we cannot allow is a situation of double injustice — delayed processing of their applications and simultaneous denial of the rights that flow from citizenship."

“Of course, those who are not entitled should not be included. Our request is simply that applications be processed fairly and without delay, and that those who qualify be provisionally included during the special revision and allowed to vote,” she said.

CJI Surya Kant observed that no distinction could be made solely on the basis of a person belonging to a particular community.

The CJI said the court would have to examine the issue of “deemed citizenship” and associated rights on a case-by-case basis, adding that the matter would be heard along with connected petitions on December 9.