Article 9

When the Constitution commenced on 26 January 1950, India had to decide, in one stroke, who counted as a citizen after the trauma and migrations of Partition. Articles 5 to 8 laid down various routes to citizenship (by domicile, by migration from Pakistan, by return migration, or by Indian origin abroad). Article 9 was added as a safeguard so that someone who had already voluntarily become a citizen of another country - for instance, by formally taking up Pakistani or another foreign nationality - would not be allowed to also claim Indian citizenship. It reflects the basic principle, common in citizenship law worldwide, that a person cannot enjoy dual citizenship of India and another state at the same time unless the law expressly permits it.

Courts have clarified that Article 9 operates only at the point the Constitution commenced (26 January 1950); it decides who could be recognised as a citizen at that moment, not what happens if someone acquires foreign citizenship afterward (that later situation is governed by Section 9 of the Citizenship Act, 1955). In cases such as Izhar Ahmad Khan v. Union of India (1962) and Kulathil Mammu v. State of Kerala (1966), the Supreme Court examined what counts as 'voluntary acquisition' of foreign citizenship - for example, obtaining a foreign passport - while discussing this same underlying principle of exclusivity of citizenship, even though those specific disputes concerned the statutory provision rather than Article 9 itself.

• Myth: Article 9 means any Indian who later takes foreign citizenship automatically loses Indian citizenship under this Article.
  Fact: Article 9 only applied to the one-time determination of citizenship when the Constitution commenced in 1950. Losing citizenship after that point, for example by later acquiring foreign nationality, is governed by Section 9 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, not directly by Article 9.
• Myth: Article 9 lets India strip citizenship from anyone accused of foreign loyalty.
  Fact: The Article is narrowly about voluntary acquisition of another country's citizenship, not about loyalty, opinions, or foreign travel or residence alone.