ExplainerPolityGS2Prelims

How Indian citizenship is acquired and proved

By CAShorts DeskPublished 12 October 2026, 5:44 am ISTUpdated 14 October 2026, 4:38 am ISTSource: Election Commission of India order No. 23/2025-ERS (Vol.II), 27 October 2025 (CEO Goa); Citizenship Act, 1955; Aadhaar Act, 2016; Passports Act, 1967

Indian citizenship rests on Articles 5 to 11 and the Citizenship Act, 1955, which confers it by birth, descent, registration or naturalisation. For birth in India, a parent's citizenship has counted since 1 July 1987, and both parents' status since 3 December 2004. The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls asks unlinked electors to prove birth and parentage.

Syllabus: GS2 · Constitution; Prelims · Polity & Governance; GS2 · Representation of the People Act

In short

Indian citizenship rests on Articles 5 to 11 and the Citizenship Act, 1955; citizens by birth usually get no certificate, so proving it rests on birth and parentage records.

Citizenship law is settled; the real test is proof, so roll revisions must seek papers only where linking fails and shield citizens without records.

Why it matters

An elector whose name cannot be matched with an old roll must now show when and where she was born and, if she was born after mid-1987, produce a parent's papers too, or both parents' if born after 2 December 2004. Families without birth records, often the poor, migrants and women who married into another State, carry the heaviest burden. The roll matters because Article 326 gives the vote only to citizens, so revising it becomes a practical test of citizenship. Knowing what each document proves, a passport refused by law to non-citizens, Aadhaar barred by law from proving citizenship, a birth certificate for date and place, decides who stays on the roll and who must argue their case.

Prelims pointers

Section 9 of the Citizenship Act: voluntarily acquiring another country's citizenship ends Indian citizenship; India does not allow dual citizenship.
Section 10 deprivation covers citizens by naturalisation, by Article 5(c) or by most registrations, not citizens by birth; grounds include fraud, disloyalty and seven years' absence abroad.
Section 13 lets the Centre certify a person's citizenship where a doubt exists; Section 14A provides for a National Register of Indian Citizens under the Registrar General of India.
Section 7B bars OCI cardholders from voting, Parliament and State legislatures, the offices of President and Vice-President, and judgeships of the Supreme Court and High Courts.
Passports Act, 1967, Section 6(2)(a): the passport authority must refuse a passport to an applicant who is not a citizen of India.
Representation of the People Act, 1950, Section 16: a person who is not a citizen cannot be registered in an electoral roll.
Aadhaar goes to 'residents', people in India for 182 days or more in the twelve months before enrolment, so it is not tied to nationality.
Articles 5 to 9 came into force on 26 November 1949 under Article 394; Articles 10 and 11 with the rest on 26 January 1950.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to citizenship by birth under the Citizenship Act, 1955, consider the following statements:

1. Anyone born in India on or after 3 December 2004 is a citizen by birth if either parent is a citizen, whatever the other's status.

2. A person born in India before 1 July 1987 did not need a citizen parent to be a citizen by birth.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Show the answer

Answer: (b) 2 only

1 is incorrect: for births on or after 3 December 2004, Section 3(1)(c) needs both parents to be citizens, or one a citizen and the other not an illegal migrant. 2 is correct: Section 3(1)(a) makes anyone born in India from 26 January 1950 to 30 June 1987 a citizen, subject only to the diplomat and enemy-alien exceptions.

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