Article 5 of the Indian Constitution:

Article 5 of the Indian Constitution says “Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution”.

According to Article 5:

At the commencement of this Constitution, every individual who has his or her residence in India and

• Who was born in India’s territory; or
• Either of whose parents were born in the territory of India; or
• Who has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years immediately preceding such commencement,

shall be an Indian citizen.

Article 5 of the Indian Constitution explained:

Article 5 of the Indian Constitution says that:

• Every individual who was born in the territory of India as specified in this Constitution, or whose parents or grandparents were born there, and who has not established a permanent residence in any foreign country since April 1, 1947; and
• Every person born in India, as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935 (as originally enacted), or in Burma, Ceylon, or Malaya, and who has his domicile in the territory of India as defined in this Constitution, is a citizen of India, provided that he has not acquired the citizenship of any foreign state before the date of commencement of this Constitution.

History of Article 5 of the Indian Constitution:

A residuary provision for citizenship based on faith was proposed by some members. They contended that any Hindu or Sikh who is not a citizen of another country should be eligible for Indian citizenship, regardless of where they live. One member firmly opposed hyphenating religion and citizenship in answer. He stated that rules should be based on fairness and equity rather than on arbitrary criteria.

Another member was keen on the draft article accommodating dual citizenship. He added that this privilege must be extended to countries on the principle of reciprocity.

This Draft Article, according to one member, made Indian citizenship inexpensive. It was pointed out in response that this Draft Article was stricter than the American citizenship law.

A few members voluntarily withdrew their changes, and others that were presented to a vote were rejected. On the 12th of August 1949, the Constituent Assembly adopted Draft Article 5 as proposed by the Drafting Committee.