New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has told the Supreme Court that it has the authority to seek proof of citizenship and also turned down its suggestion that Aadhaar, voter identity and ration cards be considered as valid documents in its controversial ‘special intensive revision’ exercise ahead of the Bihar assembly elections.The Election Commission has submitted its affidavit, as asked for by the apex court during its July 10 hearing of multiple petitions challenging the electoral rolls revision.The bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Joymalya Bagchi had said that day that “citizenship is an issue to be determined not by the Election Commission of India, but by the MHA [Ministry of Home Affairs].”To this, the Election Commission appears to disagree. “ECI is vested with the power to scrutinise whether a proposed elector fulfils the criteria for being registered as a voter in the electoral roll, which includes, inter alia, an assessment of citizenship as per Article 326 of the COI. Such scrutiny is constitutionally mandated and crystallised by virtue of RP Act 1950. This power flows directly from the provisions of Article 324 read with 326 and Sections 16 and 19 of the RP Act 1950,” it has claimed.This counter-affidavit is signed by deputy election commissioner Sanjay Kumar. So far, the commission has posited the chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as the face of the exercise – posting his photo alone at the end of each day, along with the press release.The Election Commission also claimed that it is obligated to verify voter eligibility as well: “Under the provision of the Constitution of India and statutory provisions, the ECI is obligated to verify the eligibility of the voters and ensuring any person who fails to fulfil the mandatory, requirements of eligibility is not included in the electoral rolls and further that every person fulfilling all the eligibility requirements does not get excluded from the electoral rolls.”The poll body also appeared to contest the fact that only the Union government has the power to deal with citizenship.“Section 9 of the Citizenship Act 1955 speaks of termination of citizenship only in cases of voluntary acquisition of citizenship of a foreign state, and vests the power in the Central Government to decide question which arises as regards when or how any citizen of India has acquired. citizenship of another country. It is only for this, limited purpose that the exclusive jurisdiction has been vested in the Central Government, to the exclusion of all other authorities. Other aspects related to citizenship can be inquired into by other relevant authorities for their purposes, including those who are constitutionally obligated to do so, ie., the ECI.”It has also sought to assuage the court that: “Under the SIR exercise, the citizenship of an individual will not terminate on account of the fact that he/she is held to be ineligible for registration in the electoral rolls.”Card gameThe Election Commission’s list of 11 documents that voters can furnish for the exercise, choosing to keep out the Aadhaar, which it had asked to be linked to the voter ID card years ago and also, incredibly, its own voter ID card.The poll body told the Supreme Court that the list of documents was “indicative and not exhaustive”, so officials could consider all documents presented by electors.It said that it cannot consider the Aadhaar, the voter ID or ration cards – as suggested by the apex court – for various reasons.“Aadhaar has not been included in the list of 11 documents provided in the enumeration form, as it does not help in screening the eligibility under Article 326. However, this is not to say that Aadhaar cannot be used to supplement other documents to prove eligibility,” it said.Be that as it may, in various places, reports note that officials have been collecting Aadhaar cards.The Election Commission’s note on “widespread issuance of bogus ration cards” appears to blame a government failing that was supposed to be addressed through its linking with the Aadhaar.The poll body, in the affidavit, has also discounted its own voter card, saying: “The EPIC (voters’ photo identity card), by its very nature, merely reflects the current state of the electoral roll and cannot, in itself, establish antecedent eligibility for inclusion in the roll.”