The Supreme Court has upheld the Election Commission's stance that an Aadhaar card cannot be treated as proof of Indian citizenship and must undergo proper verification. The apex court stressed that while Aadhaar serves as an important identification document for availing various services, it does not by itself establish the holder’s nationality. The top court's ruling came amid controversy over Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Hearing the matter, Justice Surya Kant observed that the Election Commission is correct in asserting that Aadhaar cannot be accepted as conclusive proof. He emphasised that proper verification is essential before treating it as valid evidence.
"The EC is correct in saying Aadhaar cannot be accepted as conclusive proof of citizenship. It has to be verified," Justice Kant told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the petitioners. The Supreme Court also observed that the primary issue to be decided was whether the Election Commission of India had the authority to conduct the voter verification exercise. Justice Surya Kant remarked that if the ECI lacked such power, the matter would end there, but if it did possess the authority, there should be no objection to the process.
Kapil Sibal's arguments in the court
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal argued that every person born in India after 1950 is a citizen, but claimed there are serious procedural lapses in the current exercise. Citing an example, he said that in one small assembly constituency, 12 living individuals were marked as deceased, and that the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) had not carried out their duties.
Sibal further contended that the procedure being followed by the poll panel could result in large-scale voter exclusion, particularly affecting those unable to submit the required forms. He pointed out that even voters already listed in the 2003 electoral rolls were being asked to fill fresh forms and failure to comply would lead to the removal of their names despite no change in residence.
He further noted that, according to the ECI's own data, 7.24 crore people had submitted the necessary forms, yet around 65 lakh names were deleted without proper verification of deaths or migration. He added that the commission had admitted in its affidavit that no survey had been carried out to support these deletions.
Claims of mass voter deletions
Another counsel, senior advocate Gopal S, told the court that 6.5 million names had been deleted from the rolls and termed it a case of mass exclusion. On the other hand, representing the Election Commission, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi clarified that the current list is only a draft roll. He admitted that minor errors can occur in such a large-scale exercise but rejected the claim that living people were deliberately marked as dead.
Bhushan alleges withholding of key data
Meanwhile, advocate Prashant Bhushan, also representing the petitioners, told the top court that the Election Commission had not provided any list identifying the 6.5 million people whose names were deleted, nor clarified how many among them were deceased and how many had migrated. He said the Commission had claimed it was not obliged to furnish such details.
Bhushan also maintained that the Election Commission had full information but was refusing to share it. "It’s not that they don't have the data," he said, adding that what was even more shocking was that the Commission's BLOs had marked voters as "recommended" or "not recommended." He revealed that a whistleblower had shared lists from two districts, and the findings were alarming -- 10 to 12 per cent of voters who had submitted forms were marked as "not recommended." "What is the basis for this? In the history of this country, the Election Commission has never done such a thing," Bhushan claimed.
EC counsel rejects allegations in court
In response, the poll panel's counsel senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi denied the allegation, stating that the details had been provided to the Booth Level Agents (BLAs) and calling Bhushan’s statement "completely false" and "misleading the court."
What is Bihar's SIR?
It is to be noted here that Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a large-scale exercise carried out by the Election Commission to update and correct the state's voter list ahead of the upcoming Assembly Elections. Under this process, officials verify the details of existing voters, add the names of eligible new voters and remove names of those who have died, moved away, or are otherwise ineligible. It involves field visits by Booth Level Officers (BLOs), the collection of forms from voters, and checking documents to ensure the accuracy of electoral rolls. As per the poll body, the aim is to keep the voter list clean and error-free so that elections are conducted fairly and transparently.
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