SC directs ECI to accept Aadhaar Card as 12th document' In Bihar SIR

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to include Aadhaar as a 12th prescribed document for establishing the identity of a voter in special intensive revision (SIR) exercise of electoral roll in poll-bound Bihar. At the moment for Bihar SIR, there are 11 prescribed documents which electors have to submit with their enumeration forms. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, however, clarified Aadhaar will not be a proof of citizenship and the commission can ascertain the genuineness of Aadhaar card number submitted by an elector for inclusion in the electoral roll.

Earlier,RJD and other petitioners submitted that the ECI officials were not accepting the Aadhaar card as a stand-alone document for inclusion in the electoral roll and were insisting on the production of any of the eleven documents specified by the ECI in its SIR notification. Advocate Kapil Sibal, for the RJD, submitted that despite three orders passed by the Supreme Court to consider Aadhaar card as well, the Electoral Registration Officers and the Booth Level Officers were not accepting it. He cited a show-cause notice purportedly issued to a BLO for accepting Aadhaar card. Sibal submitted that the ECI has not issued any instructions to its officials at the ground level to accept Aadhaar card, and hence the Supreme Court's orders were not getting implemented. Sibal also said that affidavits of several voters, whose Aadhaar cards were not accepted, have been filed.

Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, for the ECI, submitted that Aadhaar cannot be accepted as a proof of citizenship. Sibal at this point interjected to contend that the ECI has no authority to determine citizenship. Dwivedi disagreed with this submission and asserted that at least for the purpose of eletoral rolls, the ECI has the power to decide whether the applicant was a citizen. He requested the Court to decide this issue once and for all. Dwivedi further submitted that the ECI has issued public advertisements in the media to give information to the voters about the Supreme Court's direction for the acceptance of Aadhaar.