‘Not citizenship proof’: SC directs poll panel to accept Aadhaar as 12th document in Bihar SIR

“Aadhaar card is not proof of citizenship. However, keeping in view S.23(4) of the RP (Representation of People) Act, Aadhaar card is one document for the purpose of establishing identity of any person…The Aadhar card…shall be accepted for establishing the identity of any person for inclusion or exclusion in the revised voters list of state of Bihar,” the bench ordered.

“The Aadhaar card, in this regard, shall be treated as the 12th document by the authorities. However, it is clarified that the authorities shall be entitled to verify the authenticity and genuineness of the Aadhaar card itself,” it stated.

Appearing for the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal said that though the court had earlier directed that Aadhaar must be accepted as proof of identity in addition to the other 11 documents, it was not being done so, and alleged that this amounted to contempt of Supreme Court orders.

To buttress his argument, Sibal cited an instance where a show-cause notice was issued to a Booth Level Officer (BLO) for accepting Aadhaar card. He said the Commission has not issued any instructions to its officers to accept Aadhaar.

Appearing for the ECI, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi argued that the poll body had the power to examine citizenship for the purposes of the voters list and that Aadhaar cannot be accepted as a proof of citizenship.

The senior counsel said that 99.6 per cent of the 7.24 crore voters in the state have already submitted the requisite documents. Aadhaar was allowed for those excluded in the draft, but no one had any complaint that a large number of persons were excluded, he added.

Justice Kant said the ECI need not treat the Aadhar card as proof of citizenship, but only for identity purposes. “Law is very clear on Aadhaar. Aadhaar is one of the official documents… You (ECI) will take it and examine it,” he said.

Acknowledging concerns expressed by the Commission about the genuineness of Aadhaar, Justice Kant said the poll body was free to verify it. “Those who are genuine citizens of this country, they are entitled to vote. Those who are claiming citizenship on the basis of forged documents, they are not,” the judge added.

Justice Bagchi said that one of the provisions of The Representation of People Act specifically refers to Aadhaar as a document of residence. Except for birth certificate and passport, the other documents in the list of 11 specified by the ECI were not documents of citizenship, he said.

“We would like you to clarify… We have repeatedly passed order that the list illustratively indicates 11 documents… If you see those 11, apart from passport and birth certificates, none are conclusive proof of citizenship. We clarified saying include Aadhaar,” he stated.