The Supreme Court of India on 8 September asked the Election Commission (EC) to consider Aadhaar as a voter identity in Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR), clarifying that it is not a citizenship proof, PTI reported. However, the court also told the EC to determine the authenticity of the Aadhaar submitted and consider including it as the 12th prescribed identity document.
The Bench, comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, was hearing the pleas challenging the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar.
It further urged the EC to consider issuing necessary directions for the acceptance of Aadhaar in this case.
Earlier, the court declined to extend the September 1 deadline for submitting claims and objections to the draft roll, noting that the EC had assured it would still consider any such filings made after September 1 but before the final date for nominations, according to LiveLaw.
Regarding a request for directions to the EC to accept the Aadhaar cards of approximately 7.24 crore voters whose enumeration forms had already been submitted, the court advised the petitioners to present specific cases where the EC had refused to accept Aadhaar from voters within this category.
The Supreme Court described the confusion surrounding the Bihar SIR as "largely a trust issue" and instructed the State Legal Services Authority to deploy paralegal volunteers. The volunteers are to help individual voters and political parties submit claims and objections regarding the draft electoral roll, which was released on August 1, the PTI report noted.
The EC, which had opposed any extension to the September 1 deadline for submitting claims and objections as per the SIR timeline, informed the court that between August 22 and August 30, only 22,723 inclusion claims and 1,34,738 exclusion objections had been filed.
As per the EC's June 24 schedule for the Bihar SIR, the window for submitting claims and objections closed on September 1, and the final electoral roll is set to be published on September 30.
The Supreme Court also directed political parties to respond to a note submitted by the EC.
Additionally, the court stated that the paralegal volunteers must submit confidential reports to the respective district judges, and the consolidated data for the entire state would be reviewed on September 8. It had emphasised that the EC must adhere to the procedures laid out in the June 24 order concerning the Bihar SIR and expressed concern over the unusually high number of objections filed, seeking the removal of names from the draft roll.
"Political parties need to activate themselves," it had mentioned.
The SIR of the voter list in Bihar, the first such exercise since 2003, triggered significant political controversy. Opposition parties accused it of being an attempt to disenfranchise voters. The Election Commission, however, defended the revision, stating that its purpose is to clean up the electoral roll by removing the names of deceased individuals, duplicate entries, and illegal immigrants.
The total number of registered voters in Bihar dropped from 7.9 crore to 7.24 crore.
