Several Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) in Bengaluru have alleged that they are being orally instructed to identify voters suspected of being foreign nationals during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
AEROs who spoke to The Hindu said they have been asked to identify people from Nepal or Bangladesh and demand citizenship certificates from them, even in cases where the individuals have already produced an Indian passport.
They told The Hindu that they have largely been "bypassing" these instructions, but alleged they face pressure during weekly review meetings, where officials have been told to seek citizenship certificates and no other form of documentation.
"If a person has an Indian passport, is it not enough to establish that they are Indian? How do we ask a person who has all the documents to show a citizenship certificate? A citizenship certificate is not even mentioned in the indicative list of documents," one AERO said.
According to the AEROs, the same instruction was repeated at the most recent weekly meeting, held on September 25, which was attended by more than 1,000 AEROs from jurisdictions across Bengaluru. Several officers said they raised objections, arguing that demanding a citizenship certificate risked "profiling" citizens or treating them as ineligible on that basis. They said their concerns were not addressed.
Officers said the instructions have only ever been conveyed orally, never in writing, which they said made it harder to justify asking electors for such documents.
Karnataka's Chief Electoral Officer V Anbu Kumar denied the AEROs' allegations, saying no such instructions had been issued.