Bihar SIR: SC Includes Aadhaar as 12th Valid ID Document

The Supreme Court on Monday approved the inclusion of Aadhaar card as a valid document for Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. The Election Commission of India (ECI) told the court that Aadhaar will now be accepted to verify a person’s identity for adding or removing them from the updated voter list in the state.

Aadhaar Added as 12th Document

Earlier, the SIR exercise required 11 documents from people excluded from the voter list, but Aadhaar was not part of the list. The Supreme Court said Aadhaar will now be treated as the 12th document. The court emphasized that this move is to ensure that illegal immigrants are not included in the voter list.

Verification Not Citizenship Proof

The Supreme Court clarified that authorities can check the authenticity of Aadhaar but it cannot be used as proof of citizenship. The ECI will provide instructions on how to use Aadhaar during the SIR process, according to LiveLaw.

Opposition Criticism

Leaving out Aadhaar earlier drew strong criticism from opposition parties. They argued that not including this common identity document could make the voter list revision favor the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Timeline of SIR Exercise

On August 18, the EC released the names of 65 lakh people removed from the draft voter list under SIR. On July 28, the Supreme Court had refused to stop the EC from publishing the draft rolls on August 1 but asked it to consider Aadhaar and EPIC. The EC initially continued the SIR without Aadhaar. On September 1, the Supreme Court called the confusion over the exercise a “trust issue” and directed paralegal volunteers to help voters and parties submit claims and objections to the draft roll.