Former Indian Foreign Service Officer Navdeep Suri has been asked to provide documents to establish his Indian citizenship during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Punjab, despite having served as a senior Indian diplomat overseas.
Officials conducting the SIR in Amritsar asked Suri to prove his citizenship after a discrepancy was found while matching his current voter details with the 2003 electoral roll, The Tribune reported.
ALSO READ: 33% Voters Missing? How SIR Exercise May Rejig Delhi Electoral List
Suri stated in a post on X that he went to the Booth Level Officer (BLO) as part of the SIR process and submitted his voter ID and Aadhar Card. According to Suri, the BLO initially assured him that everything was in order. However, he stated that he was then informed that some details did not match the 2003 records.
Dear @ECISVEEP
— Navdeep Suri (@navdeepsuri) August 23, 2026
Sharing my experience with #SIR in Punjab. Went to BLO, submitted Voter ID and Aadhaar card, was assured that everything is in order.
Got a message today from a volunteer saying some details don't match with SIR in 2003!
1 -
In a subsequent post, Suri stated that he was told to collect a notice and return with documents showing that he was an Indian citizen. Because he was outside India in 2003, he said the officials asked him for his passport as proof.
.@ECISVEEP
— Navdeep Suri (@navdeepsuri) August 23, 2026
Spoke with BLO, was told that I should come and collect the notice. And then come again with unspecified documents that show I am an Indian citizen.
Replied that I was not in India in 2003, so they've asked for passport as proof.
2-
Suri then questioned what the experience meant for ordinary voters, asking in substance that if someone who represented India in three countries has difficulty establishing his citizenship, what would happen to the common citizen?
.@ECISVEEP
— Navdeep Suri (@navdeepsuri) August 23, 2026
I happen to have documents other than voter ID and Aadhaar card. But can't help asking:
If I have trouble establishing my citizenship after representing India in three countries, what's the fate of the common citizen?
Ease of Living, I presume!
Suri has served as India's Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Egypt and as India's High Commissioner to Australia. His diplomatic career spans across 1983 to 2019.
Suri told The Tribune that he has several documents apart from his voter ID and Aadhar card that can establish his citizenship. His concern, he stated, was less about his own ability to produce documents and more about people who may face similar difficulties during the verification process.
The Amritsar Deputy Commissioner and Chief Electoral Officer, Dalwinderjit Singh, responded to Suri's comments. Singh stated that Suri's vote was registered in 2019 and 2024, and explained that the SIR process requires current voter details to be matched with the 2003 electoral roll. Since Suri was serving outside India at that time, his vote remained unmapped. Singh stated that officials would review the details submitted by Suri and act accordingly.
What is Punjab's SIR?
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is an electoral roll revision exercise intended to update and verify voter lists. In Punjab, the house-to-house enumeration phase was conducted from June 25 to August 3, 2026.
The exercise covered roughly 2.14 crore electors. According to officials cited by The Tribune, enumeration forms for about 1.94 crore electors were collected and digitised, while more than 20 lakh voters were categorised as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate (ASDD).
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