EC refuses to include Aadhaar, voter ID and ration card for Bihar voter list

The Election Commission of India has rejected the Supreme Court's suggestion to accept Aadhaar, voter ID card (voter ID) and ration card as proof for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter list in Bihar.

In a counter affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Monday, 21 July, the ECI said it is its "constitutional right" to determine whether the citizenship requirement has been fulfilled by voters or not, but a person's citizenship will not be "terminated" due to disqualification as a voter.

It is worth noting that while hearing petitions raising concerns over SIR in Bihar, the Supreme Court had refused to stop the Election Commission from going ahead with SIR, but suggested that the ECI should also consider Aadhaar, Voter ID and ration card for updating the voter list.

The court had asked the Election Commission to file a counter affidavit by 21 July. The next hearing of the case will be on 28 July.

According to the Indian Express and Live Law, in its counter affidavit, the ECI has said that Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship, and various High Courts have also accepted this.

The Commission said, "Aadhaar is not included in the list of 11 documents given in the enumeration form, as it does not help in checking eligibility under Article 326. However, this does not mean that Aadhaar cannot be used as a supplement to other documents to prove eligibility."

Notably, the forms issued for voter list revision mention the voter ID card number and alternate Aadhaar number.

The Election Commission also said in its affidavit that "fake ration cards have been issued on a large scale", and though Aadhaar-seeding has helped, problems still persist. The Election Commission also cited a press release issued by the government on 7 March which said that the Centre had removed over 5 crore fake ration card holders.

Regarding voter ID cards, the Election Commission said: "...EPIC (Elector Photo Identity Card), by its nature, only reflects the current status of the electoral roll and cannot, by itself, establish a pre-determined eligibility for inclusion in the electoral roll."

The Election Commission reiterated that the list of 11 documents is indicative, not exhaustive, so the Electoral Registration Officer may consider all documents submitted by voters.