Key Points

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, however, said it is clarified that authorities shall be entitled to verify the authenticity and genuineness of the Aadhaar card itself.

Aadhaar card shall not be accepted as proof of citizenship, clarified the bench.

It also asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to issue instructions about the acceptance of the Aadhaar card as the 12th document to its officials.

The top court observed that, as per the Aadhaar Act, the Aadhaar card is not proof of citizenship; however, in the Representation of the People's Act, the Aadhaar card is one document for the purpose of establishing the identity of any person.

It recorded the undertaking of the poll panel that the Aadhaar card will be accepted as proof of identity.

The order of the apex court came while hearing pleas of RJD and others claiming that the ECI officials were not accepting the Aadhaar card as a stand-alone document for inclusion in the electoral roll.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for RJD, said that officials were insisting on the production of any of the 11 documents specified by the ECI in its SIR notification and are not accepting the Aadhaar card despite the court's three orders.

The ECI has not issued any instructions to its officials at the ground level to accept the Aadhaar card, and court orders were not getting implemented, said Sibal, adding that 24 affidavits of several voters, whose Aadhaar cards were not accepted, have been filed.

He further said, "Aadhaar card is the universally available document with the population. If they cannot accept that, what kind of inclusion exercise are they carrying out? They want to exclude the poor."

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the ECI, submitted that an Aadhaar card cannot be accepted as proof of citizenship.

It also issued a notice to the ECI on an application filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking direction to conduct SIR of electoral rolls in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, where Assembly Elections are scheduled in 2026.

On August 22, the top court had ordered that the persons who are excluded from the draft electoral roll during the SIR in poll-bound Bihar can submit their applications for inclusion through online mode and that physical submission of forms is not necessary.

On the last date of hearing, the bench had 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 even objections sent 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.

- ANI