The Supreme Court on Wednesday clarified that Madhyamik (Class X) admit cards can be used for the verification of identity and parentage during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, but only when accompanied by the corresponding pass certificate.
A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued the clarification after concerns were raised by the Election Commission of India whether the admit card could be treated as a standalone proof of identity. The court made it clear that the admit card cannot replace other primary documents. It can only support verification, particularly in relation to date of birth and parentage, and must be submitted along with the pass certificate.
The court further directed that all documents referred to in paragraph 3(iii) of its 24 February order, which were received before 14 February but not yet uploaded, must be placed by the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs before the presiding judicial officers by 5 p.m Thursday.
The clarification comes as part of the court’s ongoing supervision of the SIR process in West Bengal, where judicial officers have been deployed and tasked with deciding claims and objections relating to voters in the “logical discrepancy” and “unmapped” categories. The court had earlier allowed the use of the Aadhaar card for verification.