The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission (EC) to accept Aadhaar as a valid identity document during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar.

Court’s Direction

A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi held that Aadhaar should be treated as the 12th valid proof of identity in addition to the 11 documents already permitted for voter verification. The court, however, clarified that Aadhaar cannot be used to establish citizenship and asked officials to verify the authenticity of the card to prevent misuse.

EC’s Objection

The Election Commission, represented by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, argued that 99.6 per cent of Bihar’s 7.24 crore voters had already submitted valid documents and that adding Aadhaar at this stage was unnecessary. The EC had earlier opposed Aadhaar on grounds of potential forgery, but the court said the same risk applied to other ID proofs as well.

Political Objections

The opposition, including the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal, has challenged the EC’s SIR exercise, alleging it is an attempt to disenfranchise voters from communities that traditionally support them. The Congress also accused the BJP and the EC of colluding to commit “voter fraud.” The EC, in response, maintained that the revision was within legal limits and helped identify thousands of ineligible voters, including foreign nationals.

Background On SIR In Bihar

The SIR, launched ahead of the Bihar Assembly election later this year, reduced the state’s voter count from 7.9 crore to 7.24 crore. The court has sought reports from political parties on steps taken to assist voters who were deleted from the rolls. It also directed the Bihar State Legal Services Authority to deploy paralegal volunteers to help citizens file claims and objections.

The Supreme Court stressed that only genuine citizens must be allowed to vote while ensuring no eligible voter is unfairly excluded.

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