Part II
Article 9

Persons voluntarily acquiring citizenship of a foreign State not to be citizens

No person shall be a citizen of India by virtue of article 5, or be deemed to be a citizen of India by virtue of article 6 or article 8, if he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any foreign State.

Version 1

Article 9, Constitution of India 1950

No person shall be a citizen of India by virtue of article 5, or be deemed to be a citizen of India by virtue of article 6 or article 8, if he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any foreign State.

Summary

Article 9 was debated on 10, 11 and 12 August 1949. This Article barred dual citizenship.

It was not initially a separate Article, and instead was debated as a proviso to Draft Article 5 (Article 5) of the Constitution. During the revision stages, the Drafting Committee decided that that bar on dual citizenship must be a general principle and not be restricted to conditions under Article 5.

During the Constituent Assembly debates, one member argued in favour of dual citizenship. He noted that it should be limited to countries which extend the same to Indians. However, the Assembly voted against this proposal without debate, and the Article was adopted as it was.