Other documents like ration cards and driving license are also as susceptible to being forged as Aadhaar card and Aadhaar cannot be singled out and excluded on that ground.
Supreme Court of India | File Photo
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to modify its September 8 order directing the Election Commission to accept the Aadhaar card as the twelfth document for identity proof for inclusion as voter under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar.
A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymlaya Bagchi said the direction passed by it last week was only interim in nature and the issue of the document’s validity as an identity proof is still open to be decided in the matter related to the SIR.
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Other documents like ration cards and driving license are also as susceptible to being forged as Aadhaar card and Aadhaar cannot be singled out and excluded on that ground.
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“Driving licenses can be forged, ration cards can be forged. Several documents can be forged. Aadhaar is to be utilised to the extent law permits,” the bench said.
The top court was hearing an application by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay seeking modification of September 8 order contending that anybody can get an Aadhaar card by merely staying in India for 182 days and it was neither a proof of citizenship nor residence.
He said there were lakhs of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis in Bihar” and allowing the use of Aadhaar card would be “disastrous”.
This bench responded that the disaster or absence of disaster will be considered by ECI. The bench, however, issued notice to the ECI on Upadhyay’s application.
The apex court also said it was presuming that the poll panel being a constitutional authority, was following the law during the SIR exercise and warned that the exercise would be set aside in case of any illegality.
“What difference will it (the final publication of the rollst) make to us? If we are satisfied there is some illegality, we can…,” said Justice Kant.
It fixed October 7 for hearing final arguments on the validity of Bihar SIR.
“Our judgement in Bihar SIR will be applicable for Pan-India SIR,” the bench said as it clarified that it can’t stop the ECI from conducting the similar exercise for revision of electoral roll across the country.
The apex court had earlier refrained from issuing any direction to extend the deadline for submitting claims, objections or corrections to the electoral roll beyond September 1, after the ECI assured that objections sent even after this deadline would be considered before the electoral roll is finalised.
The top court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the poll panel’s move to conduct SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar.
The petitions challenging the ECI decision were filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PUCL, activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam.
The pleas sought direction to quash the ECI’s June 24 directive that requires large sections of voters in Bihar to submit proof of citizenship to remain on the electoral rolls.
The petitions also raised concerns over the exclusion of widely held documents like Aadhaar and ration cards, stating that this would disproportionately affect the poor and marginalised voters, especially in rural Bihar.
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