Foreigners possessing Indian ID cards pose security threat

Thiruvananthapuram: In what could add to compromising national security, many individuals who are not citizens of the country, have been found to be possessing elector’s photo identity cards and ration cards in their names.

Govt has alerted the state police and the district collectors about several foreign nationals who are illegally holding ration cards and election photo identity cards, which can be issued only to Indian nationals.

The state home secretary’s communique to the state police chief and all the district collectors on April 4 this year, accessed by TOI, said that this has come to the notice of govt while processing the citizenship applications of several individuals who are seeking Indian citizenship.

“While processing applications for granting citizenship, it has come to the notice that some foreign nationals are illegally holding ration cards and election voter IDs. District collectors and district police chiefs have not mentioned anything about the possession of election cards or ration cards in their respective reports or letters while recommending their citizenship applications to govt,” the letter said.

Ration card is a document issued by state govt which also serves as a proof of nationality. Similarly, electronic photo identity cards are issued by the Election Commission of India, which also, are issued only to an Indian citizen. Possession of these two documents by a person of foreign nationality would mean that they have managed it by illegal means, by misrepresentation or by fraudulent means. Govt has asked the district collectors and the district police chiefs to strictly ensure that such individuals who apply for citizenship, do not hold these documents.

However, govt could zero in only on those in possession of these documents while they apply for citizenship, which would mean that many are likely to hold such documents illegally.

A foreigner, while applying for the country’s citizenship, has to apply online along with the necessary documents to the ministry of home affairs, and submit the physical copies of the same to the district collector concerned. The collector then forwards these to the state home department for verification, after completing necessary checks as prescribed under Citizenship Rules, 2009. If the applicant fulfils all the necessary criteria and there are no adverse security reports against him/her, an acceptance letter is issued to him, which is the in-principle approval for his application seeking the citizenship.

After the receipt of all the specified documents mentioned in the acceptance letter, the matter is examined again for the issue of citizenship certificate. If the documents are found in order, the competent authority approves the grant of Indian citizenship certificate to the applicant.