Supreme Court has directed EC to accept Aadhaar as a valid proof of identity for voter roll revisions in Bihar. The top court emphasized that Aadhaar should be considered among the prescribed documents to establish the identity of voters.
In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission to accept Aadhaar as a valid proof of identity for voter roll revisions in Bihar. The top court on Monday emphasised that Aadhaar should be considered among the prescribed documents to establish the identity of voters. SC, however, asked the EC to ascertain genuineness of Aadhaar submitted for establishing identity of voters in Bihar SIR.
The top court also observed that ‘nobody wants Election Commission to include illegal immigrants in electoral roll’.
This decision aims to simplify the process of updating the electoral rolls and ensure that more citizens can easily exercise their right to vote. The judgment came as part of a case concerning the revision of voter lists, reinforcing the importance of Aadhaar in identity verification processes.
Earlier, Supreme Court on Monday, September 1, took note of the Election Commission’s submission that claims and objections for voter registration in the Bihar draft roll will be considered even after the September 1 deadline and that they will be considered after the roll has been finalised. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, after taking note of ECI’s submission, did not pass any order to extend the September 1 deadline.
The process will continue until the last date of nominations and all inclusions or exclusions are integrated in the final roll, the bench recorded the ECI submissions on September 1.
The apex court was hearing applications filed by political parties seeking to extend the deadline by two weeks. It also asked the Bihar Legal Services Authority (BLSA) to issue instructions to all district legal service authorities to depute or notify para-legal volunteers to assist voters or political parties for online submission of claims, objections, and corrections.
(With ANI inputs)