The Election Commission on Monday (September 8) said Aadhaar will be considered as a document for the identity of a voter during the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. The development happened after the court once again asked the EC to consider Aadhaar. The apex court clarified that it was not proof of citizenship.In an undertaking before the court, the EC said, “Aadhaar card will also be taken into consideration for the purpose of establishing the identity of a person for the purpose of inclusion/exclusion of a voter in the revised voter list of Bihar,” Live Law reported.During the hearing, the top court asked the poll body to consider issuing necessary directions for the acceptance of Aadhaar in Bihar SIR.
“Only genuine citizens will be allowed to vote and those claiming to be genuine on the basis of forged documents will be excluded,” the court said. It also observed that nobody wants the EC to include illegal immigrants in the electoral roll.The SC was hearing a batch of pleas, including those of political parties, challenging the June 24 decision of the EC to conduct SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar. The state is scheduled to hold assembly polls in November this year.The SIR of the voter list in Bihar — the first since 2003 — sparked a huge political row, with the opposition parties alleging that the exercise is aimed at depriving people of their right to vote. The EC has maintained that SIR is being conducted to clean the voter list by deleting names of people who are dead, have duplicate voter cards or are illegal immigrants.The SIR’s findings reduced the total number of registered voters in Bihar, from 7.9 crore before the exercise to 7.24 crore after conducting it.
