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The Supreme Court, on Monday, September 8, directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to treat Aadhaar as a “12th document” that can be produced as proof of identity for inclusion in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi clarified that Aadhaar can only be accepted as proof of identity, not as proof of citizenship. According to copy 1, the Court stated, “Aadhaar card shall be treated as the 12th document by authorities. However, it is clarified that authorities shall be entitled to verify the authenticity and genuineness of the Aadhaar card itself. It shall not be accepted as proof of citizenship. ECI shall issue instructions in this regard during the course of the day.”
The directive extends a previous order that allowed nearly 65 lakh voters, excluded from Bihar’s draft rolls published on August 1, to submit Aadhaar as identity proof for re-inclusion. Now, Aadhaar will be acceptable for all voters seeking inclusion in the revised list.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the RJD, argued that Booth Level Officers were refusing to accept Aadhaar despite three prior Supreme Court orders. He submitted affidavits from voters whose Aadhaar cards were rejected. “Aadhaar card is the universally available document with the population. If they cannot accept that, what kind of inclusion exercise are they carrying out? They want to exclude the poor,” Sibal said, according to a Live Law report.
The Court took note of show-cause notices issued to officials for accepting Aadhaar and asked the ECI to clarify. Justice Bagchi pointed out that among the 11 identity documents already accepted, except for passports and birth certificates, none conclusively proved citizenship.
Representing the ECI, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi stressed that Aadhaar cannot serve as citizenship proof but maintained the poll body has publicised its acceptance. “We have advertised… Aadhaar can be digitally uploaded. Only thing is, Aadhaar we are not considering as proof of citizenship,” he told the Court.
The Bench also underlined that while Aadhaar expands access, the genuineness of the document must be verified. “Nobody wants the EC to include illegal immigrants in the electoral roll. Only genuine citizens can vote,” the Court observed.
Earlier, the Court had directed the ECI to upload details of the 65 lakh excluded voters and to allow online claims and objections. The deadline for such claims ended on September 1, though the ECI assured the Court that late objections would still be considered before finalisation of the rolls. The final Bihar voter list is scheduled to be published on September 30.