New Delhi, Sep 8 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday directed that Aadhaar card “must” be included as an identity proof of voters in the special intensive revision exercise of electoral rolls in Bihar and asked the Election Commission to implement the direction by September 9.
Adding the Aadhaar card to the list of 11 prescribed documents in the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi made it clear the Aadhaar will not be a proof of citizenship.
In its order on the much debated issue, the apex court said the Election Commission can ascertain the genuineness of Aadhaar card number submitted by an elector for inclusion in the electoral roll.
The top court also sought EC’s explanation on showcause notices it issued to poll officials for not accepting Aadhaar card from voters.
“We direct the Election Commission of India and its authorities to accept Aadhar card as a proof of identity for the purpose of inclusion or exclusion in the revised voter list of the state of Bihar. Aadhaar card, for this purpose, shall be treated as the 12th document by the authorities. It is, however, made clear that the authorities shall be entitled to verify the authenticity and genuinity of the Aadhaar card, like any of the other enumerated documents, by seeking further proof/documents,” it directed.
The bench noted according to the statutory status assigned to Aadhaar card under the Aadhaar Act of 2016, it was not a proof of citizenship and therefore should not be accepted.
Considering Section 23(4) of the Representation of People Act, 1950, the top court said Aadhaar card was one of the documents enumerated for establishing a person’s identity.
The provision states, “The electoral registration officer may for the purpose of establishing the identity of any person require that such person may furnish the Aadhaar number given by the Unique Identification Authority of India as per the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016”.
At the moment for Bihar SIR, there are 11 prescribed documents which electors have to submit with their enumeration forms for inclusion into the electoral roll.
The order brings Aadhaar at par with other prescribed documents including passport, birth certificate as valid proof of identity.
According to EC’s June 24 notification, the final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on September 30.
Observing nobody wants the EC to include illegal immigrants in the electoral roll, the bench stressed only genuine citizens will be allowed to vote and those claiming to be genuine on the basis of forged documents will be excluded from the electoral roll.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Shoeb Alam, appearing for RJD, alleged despite three orders of the apex court asking the poll panel to accept Aadhaar cards as a valid proof of identity, the EC wasn’t accepting it and had even issued showcause notices to poll officials who accepted the document from electors.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, submitted 99.6 per cent of the 7.24 crore voters in the draft roll had submitted documents and the petitioners’ plea to include Aadhaar as the 12th prescribed document was not going to serve any practical purpose.
The bench referred to provisions of the 2016 Aadhaar Act and the Representation of Peoples Act and said Aadhaar couldn’t be elevated to as a proof of citizenship but only considered as a proof of identity.
Justice Bagchi said of the 11 prescribed documents listed for Bihar SIR, only passport and birth certificates were conclusive proofs.
“Aadhaar is not alien to the Representation of People Act and Section 23 (4) of the Act allows Aadhaar as a proof of identity,” he said.
Justice Bagchi added, “The statute as well as judicial decisions says that Aadhaar is not a valid proof of citizenship. But it is indeed a proof of identity and has some value as per statutes. You should examine it.” The bench earlier told Sibal that Aadhaar alone couldn’t be a valid proof of citizenship and had to be accompanied by other documents.
Sibal denied wanting Aadhaar to be accepted as a proof of citizenship and sought it to be regarded as a valid proof of identity of voters as booth level officers (BLO) couldn’t determine a person’s citizenship.
Dwivedi, however, submitted the petitioners actually wanted Aadhaar to be considered as a proof of citizenship and warned against “misuse”.
“Petitioners want Aadhaar to be used as a proof of citizenship. We cannot allow that misuse. Around 99.6 per cent have submitted one of the 11 prescribed documents. This court has allowed Aadhaar to be used for 65 lakh people who were excluded from the draft roll. Now, over 250 people have filed their claim using Aadhaar. This is not even 1,000 people. For whom they are seeking Aadhaar is a question to be asked. We must look at the holistic picture,” he said.
Dwivedi said for the purpose of electoral roll, the EC had the power to look into citizenship and claimed to have detected around 0.3 per cent illegal immigrants.
The top court posted the hearing for September 15 and asked the EC to publish the order on its website.
The SIR of voter list in Bihar — the first since 2003 — sparked a huge political row, with the opposition parties alleging that the exercise is aimed at depriving people of their right to vote.
The EC has maintained SIR’s purpose was to clean the voter list by deleting names of people who are dead, possess duplicate voter cards or illegal immigrants.
The SIR’s findings reduced the total number of registered voters in Bihar, from 7.9 crore before the exercise to 7.24 crore after conducting it. PTI MNL AMK AMK
