In the ongoing voter list revision program (SIR) in Bihar, now the Aadhaar card will also be accepted as a document. The Supreme Court has said that Aadhaar should also be included as 12th documents by the 11 documents which were declared valid by the Election Commission.

However, the court has made it clear that Aadhaar is just an identity document, it cannot be considered as evidence of citizenship. It is the job of the Election Commission to confirm his citizenship before including the name of a person in the voter list.

Petitioner side emphasized for Aadhaar

All the lawyers of the petitioner side, including senior advocate Kapil Sibal, presented for the main opposition party of Bihar Rashtriya Janata Dal, laid special emphasis on getting Aadhaar in SIR documents. Sibal said, ‘The Supreme Court has also asked Aadhaar to accept Aadhaar as a document, but the Election Commission is ignoring it. The officials who accepted Aadhaar are being sent a show cause notice.

Election Commission protested

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Election Commission, strongly opposed this argument. He said, “The Supreme Court had also asked Aadhaar to accept Aadhaar as a document for 65 lakh people left in the draft list.”

Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi said, ‘The Election Commission is following it. Many people are also uploading the copy of Aadhaar online. The Commission sees Aadhaar as an identity card, it cannot be considered as evidence of citizenship.

‘Intruders should not benefit’

Dwivedi also said that if Aadhaar is included as the only document, it will benefit illegal intruders. On this, Justice Surya Kant, who is presiding over the bench of 2 judges, said, ‘Nobody would want people living in India to be in the voter list illegally. The right to vote is only for Indian citizens.

‘Documents of Aadhaar Voter’s Identity’

The member of the bench, Judge Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, ‘It is clear in the Aadhaar Act that there is no evidence of Aadhaar citizenship, but we have to see Section 23 (4) of the Representation of People Act. In it, Aadhaar has been called one of the documents confirming the identity of the voter.

Court order

On this, the Election Commission counsel reiterated that there is no problem in accepting Aadhaar as a document related to identity. It cannot be considered the only document to include the name in the voter list. After this, the court wrote the order and said, ‘Aadhaar should be considered as the 12th document. The Election Commission can confirm the validity of the deposited Aadhaar. Aadhaar will not be considered as evidence of citizenship. The court said that the next hearing of the case will be held on September 15.

What has happened so far?

Assembly elections are due in Bihar in November this year. On June 24, the Election Commission issued an order and spoke about the special revision (SIR) of the voter list in the state. Many opposition leaders and NGOs reached the Supreme Court against it. The court refused to stop SIR, recognizing the constitutional and legal powers of the Election Commission.

The draft list of SIR was released on 1 August. 65 lakh people of the old voter list could not find place in it. The time to file an objection/claim on the draft list was only till 1 September, the court did not extend it forward. The final list of SIR is to come on 30 September. The Election Commission has said that even after the final list is released, it will consider the applications being filed to include the name.

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The Supreme Court will hear the petitions filed on behalf of many others including political parties on Monday (September 08, 2025) on behalf of the Election Commission on the petitions filed by political parties.

On June 24, the Election Commission had directed to conduct intensive special revision (SIR) of the state’s voter lists. The bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi will consider the response of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and other petitioners on the Election Commission’s remarks.

Election Commission should also give the option to apply online through online medium

The Election Commission has said that out of 7.24 crore voters included in the draft voter list, 99.5 percent have filed their eligibility documents in the SIR process. The Supreme Court is hearing several petitions including petitions filed by NGOs, workers and political parties since 22 August.

During the hearing, the bench then directed the Election Commission to provide the option to apply through the SIR process in Bihar, as well as to file the claim to the voters, as well as online medium.

‘Large -scale issue issue’

On September 1, the Supreme Court heard some applications filed by political parties to extend the deadline. During that time, the Election Commission told the bench that applications for claims, objections and improvements in the draft voter list prepared in Bihar under the SIR process can be given even after September 1, but these will be considered after the voter list is finalized.

It was said that claims and objections in the draft voter list can be filed in each assembly constituency till the last date of nomination form. The Supreme Court described confusion on Bihar SIR as a ‘issue of large -scale trust’ and directed the State Legal Services Authority to deploy legal volunteers to assist individual voters and political parties in registering claims and objections on the draft voter list published on August 1.

Election Commission protest against extending deadline

The Election Commission had opposed extending the September time limit to file claims and objections as per SIR Schedule. The Commission had said that after the Supreme Court’s 22 August order, only 22,723 claims were filed by August 30 and 1,34,738 objections were filed to exclude.

As per the Schedule of the Election Commission for Bihar SIR on 24 June, the deadline for filing claims and objections on the draft voter list has ended on September 1 and the final voter list will be published on 30 September.

Confidential report will be submitted to district judges

The Supreme Court had asked political parties to give their reply on the Election Commission’s comments. The Supreme Court had said that the legal assistant will submit a confidential report to the concerned district judges and the data collected of the state will be considered on 8 September.

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The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to make the entire process easy and clear for voters over the Bihar Voter Special Intensive Revision (SIR) dispute. The Congress welcomed the Supreme Court’s directive and said that democracy survived the brutal attack of the Election Commission.

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Friday (22 August 2025) that the Election Commission’s approach is contrary to the interests of the voters. He said that the election commission was completely exposed and its reputation has been damaged.

Clear reason behind removing the names of voters

The Congress leader said, ‘The Supreme Court had directed that the voters should be published with the reasons for the removal of the list. On August 14, the Supreme Court had also directed the Election Commission to accept the Aadhaar card as an identity proof for the voters removed. Today, the Supreme Court talked about recognizing Aadhaar as a valid identity card, which will have to be accepted to the Election Commission.

Election Commission decided contrary to the interests of voters

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh further said, ‘The Supreme Court today has established security arrangements to further improve the amendment by including political parties in this process. So far, the decision of the Election Commission has been obstructing and contrary to the interests of voters.

He further said that we specially welcome this decision, because it gives us a right that the Election Commission cannot ignore. The Congress leader said, “After this order of the Supreme Court today, the Election Commission has been completely exposed and infamous.”

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