Bihar SIR: Supreme Court rejects plea to make voters submit additional document alongside Aadhaar

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The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the petition to make the voters submit one of the 11 documents in addition to Aadhaar.

Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay filed an application asking the apex court to reconsider its September 8 order directing the Election Commission of India (ECI) to add Aadhaar to the list, making it the 12th documents.

"Please modify previous order, otherwise it would be disastrous," Upadhyay told the bench. To this, Justice Bagchi responded that the "disaster or absence of disaster" will be considered by the ECI.

In his argument, Upadhyay told the bench that keeping Aadhar with the 11 other documents is "completely contrary to law". Upadhyay's plea also sought conducting a nationwide SIR.

He said, "Aadhar is issued to foreigners also," pleading the bench to modify the order September 8 order," adding that the implications will be "disastrous".

However, Justice Bagchi said that the court is "keeping this issue open" and is neither rejecting or accepting the same.

Upadhyay further said that in Bihar, there are lakhs of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, adding that, ECI should ensure no foreigner should get voting right.

Justice Kant intervened and said that the ECI knows if someone is a citizen, they have the right to vote and in case of fraud on that account, they don't have the right to vote.

He pointed out that there are several documents that can be forged and Aadhaar is to be used under the mandate of the law. "Drivers' license, Aadhaar, many documents can be forged...Aadhaar is to be utilised to the extent that law permits," Justice Kant said.

Rejecting the plea to mandate voters to submit an additional document other than Aadhaar, the top court, however, issued notice seeking recall of the September 8 order.

In the order, the top court directed the poll body to include Aadhaar card as the 12th prescribed document in the Bihar SIR.

On September 8, the apex court clarified Aadhaar will not be proof of citizenship and the poll panel can ascertain its genuineness on being submitted by an elector for inclusion in the electoral roll. The bench made it clear that Aadhaar “is not proof of citizenship”, and stated that the EC will be entitled to assess its authenticity.

Following the order, the ECI on September 9 issued instructions to the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar, stating that Aadhaar card be accepted as the 12th document for inclusion in Bihar's revised electoral roll as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

However, the directive, came with a critical clarification that Aadhaar be used only as proof of identity and as proof of citizenship.

This means Aadhaar card will be admissible as a document -- in addition to the 11 documents listed in its June 24 SIR order -- for inclusion in Bihar's electoral roll, but the applicant will still need to submit one of the 11 listed documents, or equivalent thereof, to establish Indian citizenship.

While asking for Aadhaar card to be treated as the 12th document accepted with the signed declaration to be attached with the SIR enumeration form, EC cited Section 9 of Aadhaar (Delivery of Financial And Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016. Section 9 of the Act states that "Aadhaar number or the authentication thereof, shall not, by itself, confer any right of, or be proof of citizenship or domicile in respect of Aadhaar number holder".

Notably, Section 23(4) of the Representation of People Act, 1950, already lists Aadhaar as one of the documents to establish a person's identity. Moreover, the enumeration form under SIR also has an Aadhaar field in it which is either pre-filled (for electors included in 2003 electoral roll) or may be filled by an applicant on voluntary basis.

In its communique to the Bihar CEO, the EC instructed strict implementation of its its Aadhaar directive and that it be brought to the immediate notice of all district election officers, electoral registration officers, assistant EROs and other authorities.

The EC further said that any non-compliance of its directive shall be dealt with seriously.

The Supreme Court on Monday said it was presuming the ECI being a constitutional authority was following the law during the special intensive revision of electoral roll in poll-bound Bihar and cautioned in case of any illegality, the exercise would be set aside.

The bench fixed October 7 for hearing final arguments on validity of Bihar SIR while refusing to offer any "any piecemeal opinion" on the exercise.

"Our judgement in Bihar SIR will be applicable for Pan-India SIR," the bench said, clarifying it can't stop the poll panel from conducting the similar exercise for revision of electoral roll across the country.

The bench, however, allowed petitioners against the Bihar SIR exercise to also argue on the pan-India SIR on October 7.

With inputs from PTI