New Delhi, 12 August

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the Election Commission’s (EC) position that an Aadhaar card cannot be treated as proof of Indian citizenship without proper verification. The apex court emphasised that while Aadhaar is an important identification document, it does not establish nationality. The ruling came during hearings on petitions challenging the EC’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

Justice Surya Kant told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners, that the EC was correct in asserting Aadhaar cannot be accepted as conclusive proof. He said the primary question was whether the EC had the authority to conduct the verification exercise — if not, the matter would end, but if it did, there should be no objection to the process.

Sibal argued that every person born in India after 1950 is a citizen but claimed procedural lapses in the exercise could lead to large-scale voter exclusion. He cited cases where living persons were marked as dead and accused Booth Level Officers (BLOs) of failing in their duties. According to him, even voters listed in the 2003 rolls were being asked to reapply, with non-compliance leading to deletion. He alleged that 65 lakh names were removed without proper verification.

Advocate Gopal S termed it “mass exclusion,” claiming 6.5 million names had been deleted. Advocate Prashant Bhushan alleged the EC had with held keydata and marked voters as “not recommended” without clear criteria. He said whistleblower data showed 10–12 per cent of applicants in some districts were rejected without explanation.

Representing the EC, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi rejected the allegations, clarifying that the current list was only a draft and minor errors were expected in such large-scale exercises. He insisted that relevant details had been shared with Booth Level Agents and accused Bhushan of making misleading statements.