New Delhi – The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission (EC) to accept Aadhaar as the 12th document to establish identity for inclusion in electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in poll-bound Bihar.
A Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi clarified, however, that Aadhaar could not be treated as proof of citizenship. The EC has been allowed to verify the authenticity of the document before adding names to the electoral list. The court instructed the EC to issue guidelines to its officials in Bihar immediately and posted the matter for further hearing on September 15.
The order came while hearing petitions that challenged the EC’s June 24 notification on the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar. Representing the EC, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi informed the court that the revision exercise would eventually be conducted nationwide. He noted that 99.6% of the 7.24 crore electors listed in the draft roll had already submitted the required eligibility documents.
Earlier, the court had described the controversy around the SIR as a matter of trust and directed the EC to allow excluded voters to file claims both online and physically. The EC also informed the court that those missing from the draft roll could still file claims and objections even after the September 1 deadline, following opposition parties’ demand for an extension.
On August 1, the EC published the draft electoral roll for Bihar, listing 7.24 crore voters. The final roll is scheduled for release on September 30. According to the EC, 65 lakh names were removed, including 22.34 lakh deceased voters, 36.28 lakh who had permanently shifted or were absent, and 7.01 lakh enrolled in multiple locations.
Of Bihar’s total 7.9 crore voting population, nearly 6.5 crore individuals required no fresh documentation, as their names or their parents’ names were already part of the 2003 electoral roll. Still, petitioners, including the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), expressed concern that large numbers of voters could be unfairly excluded.
On August 14, the Supreme Court had instructed the EC to publish details of the 65 lakh deletions and reasons for non-inclusion, stressing the need for transparency in the electoral roll revision ahead of the Assembly elections in October-November 2025.
