The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Aadhaar card must be accepted as a valid form of identification in the Election Commission’s ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar, ahead of the Assembly elections later this year.

A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, in a verbal order, directed the Election Commission to recognise the Aadhaar as the 12th acceptable document for verifying the identity of individuals seeking inclusion in or exclusion from the voter list.

This direction comes despite resistance from the Election Commission, whose counsel, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, argued that over 99.6% of the 7.24 crore voters in the draft roll had already submitted identity documents. He contended that adding Aadhaar at this stage would serve little purpose.

However, the bench rejected this reasoning and addressed the EC’s earlier concerns that Aadhaar could be forged and was thus unreliable. The court noted that election officials could “verify the genuineness of the card” and reiterated that Aadhaar should not be used to establish citizenship.

This stance reflects the court’s previous observations in July, where it said the risk of forgery was not unique to Aadhaar and could apply to any of the 11 documents already permitted.

Furthermore, the bench sought clarification from the Election Commission regarding reports that officials had been issued notices for refusing to accept Aadhaar cards during the verification process.

The Supreme Court is currently hearing multiple petitions challenging the EC’s decision to conduct the SIR, with critics, particularly opposition parties, arguing that the move is a covert attempt to disenfranchise large numbers of voters from communities traditionally aligned with them.

The Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), who form part of the Mahagathbandhan alliance in Bihar, have alleged that the SIR is a politically motivated exercise backed by the ruling BJP. The Congress has gone so far as to accuse the Commission of colluding with the BJP in a bid to carry out voter fraud.

The Election Commission, however, maintains that the revision exercise is both legal and transparent. It has defended the process, stating that it led to the identification and removal of lakhs of ineligible voters, including individuals believed to be Nepali or Bangladeshi nationals who are not legally entitled to vote in India.

The court acknowledged the legitimacy of removing illegal immigrants, remarking, “Nobody wants the inclusion of illegal immigrants in the electoral roll… only genuine citizens must be allowed to vote.”

It further stated that those excluded based on potentially forged documents must not be reinstated without proper verification. The key issue, the court noted, was determining what documents these individuals could now present, especially since Aadhaar had not been an option initially.

At a prior hearing on 22 August, the court included 12 political parties in the matter and asked them to submit status reports detailing efforts made to assist voters who were removed from the rolls.

During the 1 September hearing, the court was informed by the Election Commission that while the deadline for claims, objections, and corrections to the draft roll was technically over, such submissions would still be considered once the final roll is published.

The court described the controversy surrounding the Bihar SIR as “largely a trust issue” and directed the State Legal Services Authority to deploy paralegal volunteers to support voters and political parties in navigating the claims and objections process. The draft electoral roll was published on 1 August.

The SIR exercise has led to a significant drop in the total number of registered voters in Bihar, from 7.9 crore before the process to 7.24 crore afterwards.

With input from agencies