Can intruders with Aadhaar card be allowed to vote?: Supreme Court on plea against SIR
The Supreme Court pointed out that Aadhaar card is not an "absolute proof of citizenship". It also noted that the apex poll body cannot function like a post office.
The Supreme Court on Thursday raised concerns over the illegal immigrants getting Aadhaar cards and asked whether such foreigners be allowed to vote during elections. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant made the remarks while listening a bunch of petition challenging Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in several states.
"Suppose persons intrude from neighbouring countries and work here as rickshaw pullers and labourers. If you issue an Aadhaar card so that they may receive subsidised ration, that aligns with our constitutional ethos. But does it mean that because he has been given this benefit, he must now be made a voter also?" the court remarked.
The bench, which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi, pointed out that Aadhaar card is not an "absolute proof of citizenship". It also noted that the apex poll body cannot function like a post office. The top court said that draft rolls are needed to published for correction as surveys are rarely perfect.
During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal also raised the issue of recent deaths of Booth Level Officers (BLOs). He told the court that a teacher appointed in a school cannot be a BLO to determine if a person is of 'unsound mind'.
"Disqualification is decided by the RP Act, unsound mind is by court. Registration, age is Aadhaar. Any intensive revision contrary to this will be ultra vires," Sibal said, as reported by Bar and Bench.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who was appearing for one of the petitioners, told the Supreme Court that the ECI cannot "take upon itself the purely legislative activity which has been reserved, under the scheme of the Constitution, only to Parliament and the State Legislatures".
"By no standards can it be said that the Commission is a third chamber in the legislative process within the scheme of the Constitution," Bar and Bench quoted Singhvi as saying.
The court, which will next hear the case on December 2, has now sought a report from the apex poll body. After the success of the SIR in the recently concluded assembly elections in Bihar, the drive is now being conducted in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, and Andaman and Nicobar.