Supreme Court directs EC to include Aadhaar as the 12th valid document for Bihar SIR

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The Supreme Court of India on Monday directed that the Aadhaar card "must" be included as proof of identity for voters in the special intensive revision exercise of electoral rolls in Bihar. Days after the Leader of the Opposition made a ‘vote chori' allegation against the Election Commission and also slammed the BJP for allegedly tampering with votes, the Supreme Court of India is now taking measures to ensure sheer transparency in the elections.

Adding the Aadhaar card to the list of 11 prescribed documents in the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi made it clear that Aadhaar will not be proof of citizenship.

As reported by news agency PTI, the Supreme Court of India, in its order on the much-debated issue, said the Election Commission can ascertain the genuineness of the Aadhaar card number submitted by an elector for inclusion in the electoral roll.

Moreover, the top court also sought the EC's explanation on show cause notices it issued to poll officials for not accepting Aadhaar cards from voters.

The apex court addressing the matter said, "It is clarified that Aadhaar will also be included as an identity document for inclusion/identification of voters in Bihar," the bench said, adding, "Aadhaar shall be treated as the 12th document by the EC. However, it is open for the authorities to examine the validity and genuineness of the Aadhaar submitted by the voters. It is clarified that Aadhaar will not be treated as proof of citizenship," as cited by news agency PTI.

At the moment, for Bihar SIR, there are 11 prescribed documents which electors have to submit with their enumeration forms for inclusion in the electoral roll.

The judgement places Aadhaar on par with other prescribed papers, such as passports and birth certificates, as valid proof of identification.

According to the EC's announcement dated 24 June, the final electoral roll will be released on 30 September.

Observing that nobody wants the EC to include illegal immigrants in the electoral roll, the bench stressed that only genuine citizens will be allowed to vote, and those claiming to be genuine on the basis of forged documents will be excluded from the electoral roll.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Shoeb Alam, appearing for the RJD, alleged that despite three orders of the apex court asking the poll panel to accept Aadhaar cards as valid proof of identity, the EC wasn't accepting them and was even issuing show cause notices to poll officials who were accepting them from electors, as reported by PTI.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, submitted that 99.6 per cent of the 7.24 crore voters in the draft roll had submitted documents, and the petitioners' plea to include Aadhaar as the 12th prescribed document would not serve any practical purpose.

Moreover, the bench referred to provisions of the Aadhaar Act of 2016 and the Representation of the People Act, and said Aadhaar couldn't be elevated as proof of citizenship but could only be considered as proof of identity.

On the other hand, Justice Bagchi said of the 11 prescribed documents listed for Bihar SIR, only passports and birth certificates were conclusive proofs.

Justice Bagchi further stated, "Aadhaar is not alien to the Representation of the People Act, and Section 23(4) of the Act allows Aadhaar as proof of identity," as cited by news agency PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)