Aadhaar is not official document to prove citizenship; SC upholds Election Commission's stance

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has upheld the Election Commission’s stance that the Aadhaar card is only meant for identification and is not an official document to prove citizenship. This is clearly stated in Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act.

The Court said the question of citizenship should be examined separately, but the key issue is whether the Election Commission has the authority to do so. If it has the authority, there is no problem; if not, the ongoing voter list revision in Bihar could face a setback.

The observations came from a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi while hearing petitions, including those from opposition parties, related to the voter list revision in Bihar. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, argued that citizenship matters fall under the jurisdiction of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

The petitioners pointed out that Aadhaar cards are not being accepted for the voter list revision in Bihar. The opposition parties suspect that over one crore voters have been removed from the draft list, citing a lack of trust in the Election Commission. The Court, however, noted that 7.4 crore out of 7.9 crore voters cooperated with the process, so the claim that more than one crore voters were removed does not hold. The hearing will continue today.

Voter list: Election Commission’s authority

• The Supreme Court said the inclusion or removal of names from the voter list falls under the Election Commission’s powers.
• If it finds that the process in Bihar is illegal, it will be struck down.

‘Dead’ voters in court
Activist and petitioner Yogendra Yadav presented two individuals before the Supreme Court who had been wrongly marked as “dead” and removed from the Bihar voter list. Justice Joymalya Bagchi noted that it was likely an error that could be fixed, adding that the Court understood Yadav’s concern and inquired about the total number of voters removed under this category. The Election Commission acknowledged that mistakes can occur in such a large-scale process but assured that they would be corrected before the final list is released on September 30.