Under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, Ramesh Chander, a retired IFS officer and former ambassador of India, has been served a notice requiring him to submit additional documents as proof of his Indian citizenship to remain on the electoral roll.The 75-year-old former diplomat served at various diplomatic posts in Asia, Africa and Europe and has been voting from Jalandhar for many years.He said he had already shared the requisite documents with the BLO but had received a notice asking him to appear with additional proof at an office on Ladowali Road on August 27.Speaking to The Tribune, Chander said, “Since retiring, I have voted from Jalandhar in various elections. I voted in 2007, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2022 and 2024. Yet, I have been summoned to appear with proof of residence to verify my citizenship for the electoral roll.”A resident of Deol Nagar in Jalandhar, Chander said he had already submitted his Aadhaar card, voter ID and other requisite documents to the BLO.Notably, Ramesh Chander is the second Indian ambassador to be asked to prove his Indian citizenship to remain enrolled as a voter. Previously, Indian ambassador Navdeep Suri, grandson of renowned Punjabi novelist Nanak Singh, had also received a similar notice.Having retired in December 2010, Ramesh Chander served as the Indian Ambassador to Belarus. He also held the positions of Counsellor of India to Japan, Consul General of India in Edinburgh, UK, and Minister at the Embassy of India in Prague.Chander said that while the 2003 electoral roll had been made the baseline in Punjab, additional documents were being sought from him to substantiate his citizenship, even though he had been voting all these years.He pointed out that in 2003, he was serving in Japan and was therefore posted abroad.Chander was born and brought up in Jalandhar and pursued his higher education there. He has been living in Jalandhar for the past 15 years, following his retirement.Chander said, “I had been reading about Mr Suri’s case and, ironically, found myself sailing in the same boat.”The notice received by the former diplomat on Saturday from the Additional Electoral Registration Officer, Jalandhar West, states that the documents furnished by him were inadequate to establish his eligibility as a voter and that his voter details had not matched those in the last electoral roll following the SIR.Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, Varjeet Walia, said, “The notice received by Mr Chander denotes a formal process, nothing out of the ordinary. The SOPs are followed as per the details required for the portal. Two categories of voters have so far been left out — those who are unmapped or those with logical discrepancies. As per our general directions to BLOs to ease the process, his requisite documents shall be collected from his home, and he need not appear at any office.”The SIR follow-up verification for unmapped voters in Punjab will continue until September 12, 2026, followed by publication of the final electoral roll on October 12, 2026.As many as 20.69 lakh voters, nearly 10 per cent of the state’s electorate, remained unmapped after the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. In Jalandhar, 1.46 lakh voters remain unmapped.