Passport-citizenship row: Govt asserts no new decision taken in past 12 years, Oppn says panic being created

Business To Business, New Delhi, 25^th June, 2026:   A political controversy erupted on Thursday over the passport-citizenship issue, with the government asserting that no new policy decision regarding passports has been taken in the past 12 years, while opposition parties alleged that efforts were underway to create grounds for the arbitrary denial of citizenship rights to individuals who disagree with the ruling dispensation.
Government sources, citing the Passport Act, 1967, said that passports can be issued even to non-citizens in certain cases if it is deemed to be in the public interest. They maintained that existing legal provisions governing passports remain unchanged.
Amid the debate, officials of the Election Commission of India clarified that passports continue to be among the 12 valid supporting documents that voters may use to establish their eligibility for inclusion in electoral rolls.
The controversy gained further attention after the Ministry of External Affairs published a gazette notification dated June 20 announcing a revision in passport fees. Under the revised structure, the application fee for a fresh ordinary 36-page passport has been increased from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500.
While the government has maintained that the fee revision and passport rules are unrelated to questions of citizenship, opposition parties have raised concerns about the broader implications of the ongoing debate and sought greater clarity on the issue.
The exchange has triggered a wider political discussion on the relationship between citizenship documentation, electoral eligibility and administrative procedures relating to passports.