Handbook for Electoral Registration Officers - Election Commission ...

cases by the EROs or their verifying officers could be held in Village/Taluk/Zonal officesetc. on appointed dates.48. In the case of spot verification or summary enquiry the claimant should be asked,as far as possible, to be physically present or if that is not possible a statement of anyother adult member of the same house-hold should be recorded verifying the ordinaryresidence of the claimant.49. In the case of large number of claims and objections in a constituency, EROconcerned may informally associate a B L A o r a representative each from arecognized political party of the state who personally knows the inhabitants of thelocality as far as practicable. The representative should himself be a man of the areain respect of which claims or objections are heard. It should be understood very clearlythat the responsibility of final decision would be of the ERO in respect of each claim orobjection. The representative of the party will have no voice in the decision. He will onlyhelp in discouraging false claims and objections. Field officer of the Government underwhose jurisdiction the area in a village or town or city falls may also be associated.Determination of Citizenship:50. The ERO has to ensure that the electoral roll contains only the names of personswho are fully eligible and fulfill all the conditions for registration. One of suchconditions of eligibility is that the elector should be a citizen of India. Therefore, when aclaim application is preferred before the ERO, he has to satisfy himself that the applicantis, inter alia, a citizen of India. For the purpose of determining the citizenship, theSupreme Court has laid down the following guidelines –(i) The Officer holding the enquiry shall bear in mind that the enquiry being quasijudicialin nature, he must entertain all such evidence, documentary or otherwise, as theconcerned affected person may like to tender in evidence and its evidentiary valueassessed and applied in decision making. The ERO shall disclose all such material onwhich he proposes to place reliance, so that the concerned person has had a reasonableopportunity of rebutting such evidence. The concerned person, it must always beremembered, must have a reasonable opportunity of being heard.(ii) Needless to state that the Officer inquiring into the matter must apply his mindindependently to the material placed before him and without being influenced byextraneous considerations or instructions.(iii) Before taking a final decision in the matter, the Officer concerned will bear inmind the provisions of the Constitution and the Citizenship Act, 1955 and all relatedprovisions having a bearing on the question of citizenship and then pass an appropriateorder. It must be remembered that there is a provision for appeal against the decision ofthe ERO.(iv) If any, person whose citizenship is suspected is shown to have been included inthe immediately preceding Electoral Roll, the ERO or any other officer inquiring into thematter shall bear in mind that the entire gamut for inclusion of the name in the ElectoralRoll must have been undertaken and hence adequate probative value be attached to thatfactum before issuance of notice and in subsequent proceedings.(v) The onus of proof of citizenship shall initially lie on the applicant who applies forinclusion of his name for the first time. The ERO must be satisfied that the person47