The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to consider Aadhaar as the 12th prescribed document for establishing the identity of a voter in the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise of electoral roll in poll-bound Bihar.
This means Aadhaar can be submitted as a standalone document, like any of the other 11 prescribed documents which electors have to submit with their enumeration forms.
The development comes amidst the ongoing tussle between the voters and ECI for registration of voters in the state.
Earlier, the ECI had prescribed 11 documents for inclusion of voters during the revision process in the state.
The two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, also acknowledged the submissions of the ECI — through its senior lawyer, Rakesh Dwivedi — and clarified that the Aadhaar card is not a proof of citizenship.
Dwivedi submitted that Aadhaar cannot be accepted as a proof of citizenship.
The bench recorded an undertaking on behalf of the ECI, represented by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi that Aadhaar card will be accepted as a proof of identity.
“The EC has the power to decide whether the applicant was a citizen. The EC has issued public advertisements in the media to give information to the voters about the Supreme Court’s direction for the acceptance of Aadhaar,” Dwivedi added.
After hearing these submissions, the top court added, keeping in view Section 23(4) of the Representation of People’s Act, it is one of the documents for the purpose of establishing the identity of any person.
The court also ordered the EC to issue necessary instructions to the Booth Level Officers (BLO) to accept Aadhaar, and also made it clear that the officials would be entitled to verify its authenticity and genuineness.
For conducting this exercise, the bench asked the ECI to issue further directions to its officials present on the ground for the acceptance of Aadhaar as the proof of identity during the SIR process.
“In view of the statutory status assigned to Aadhaar under Aadhaar Act, it is not proof of citizenship. However, keeping in view Section 23(4) of RP Act, Aadhaar card is one document for the purpose of establishing the identity of any person,” the bench said.
Following which, the bench recorded an undertaking on behalf of the ECI that Aadhaar card will be accepted as a proof of identity.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by various political parties like the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), AIMIM and other petitioners on the poll panel’s note where it has submitted that 99.5 per cent of the 7.24 crore electors in the draft electoral roll had filed their eligibility documents in the SIR exercise.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the RJD, argued that though the apex court issued three orders, the EC has yet not issued any instructions to its officials at the ground level to accept Aadhaar card.
