The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Aadhaar must be accepted as the 12th valid identity document for re-verification of voters under the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, ahead of the state assembly election.
A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the Election Commission (EC) to allow Aadhaar cards as proof of identity for inclusion or deletion from the voter list, while clarifying that Aadhaar cannot be used to establish citizenship.
The EC had argued that 99.6% of Bihar’s 7.24 crore voters had already submitted documents, making Aadhaar inclusion redundant. The Court disagreed, saying, “Forgery is possible with any document, not just Aadhaar,” and instructed officials to verify the genuineness of Aadhaar cards before accepting them.
The SIR exercise has been a flashpoint between the ruling BJP and opposition parties, including the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), who allege the process is aimed at disenfranchising voters from communities that traditionally back them. The EC maintains that the revision was transparent and necessary to weed out illegal voters, including non-citizens.
Calling the controversy “largely a trust issue,” the Court directed the Bihar State Legal Services Authority to deploy paralegal volunteers to help voters and political parties file claims and objections regarding the draft roll, which was published on August 1.
The SIR has reduced Bihar’s voter count from 7.9 crore to 7.24 crore, a drop of over 66 lakh names. The Supreme Court continues to hear petitions challenging the process, with political parties asked to file status reports on efforts to assist deleted voters.
