Top court says poll panel correct, Aadhaar can't be accepted as citizenship proof

India Today

The Supreme Court is currently hearing a matter concerning the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rules in Bihar. The court has supported the Election Commission's argument that Aadhaar cannot be considered conclusive proof of citizenship. The Supreme Court stated that Aadhaar must be verified, as it serves as proof of residence and is issued to certain foreign citizens residing in India. Petitioners argue that the Election Commission lacks the authority to conduct a citizenship test and that proper procedures are not being followed. Concerns have been raised regarding the removal of 65 lakh people from the 2025 rules without adequate verification, with petitioners alleging that door-to-door surveys were not conducted. The court's observation is that "Aadhaar cannot be accepted as conclusive proof. It has to be verified."

Transcript

00:00We begin this bulletin with breaking news coming in right now from the Supreme Court where the

00:09hearing of the SIR exercise is currently underway. It seems the Supreme Court has now

00:16backed the Election Commission's argument that Aadhaar cannot be used as a proof of citizenship.

00:25The Supreme Court has said that the Election Commission is correct in not accepting Aadhaar

00:31as proof. Justice Suleykanth has said this to Advocate Sibyl who is currently arguing this

00:38case and he has said that the Aadhaar cannot be accepted as conclusive proof. It has to be verified.

00:45This is a big statement coming in especially since it was the Supreme Court that had suggested

00:50that Aadhaar card should be added in the documents that could be accepted as proof. So big news

00:58right now from Supreme Court where the special intensive revision of electoral rolls of Bihar

01:07that hearing is underway and it seems now the Supreme Court has said that what Election Commission

01:13says about the Aadhaar card that it cannot be a conclusive proof of your citizenship is correct.

01:20Remember Aadhaar card is also issued to certain foreign citizens who are residing in India.

01:27It is proof of residence and now the Supreme Court is standing behind what the Election Commission said

01:36and says it has accepted the argument that Election Commission had put forward that it cannot be accepted

01:42as a proof of citizenship. Joining me now is India Today's Anisha Mathur. Anisha it was the Supreme

01:49Court that had made the suggestion that we should include some more documents which included the

01:54Aadhaar card but now it is siding with the Election Commission and saying that it is not a conclusive

02:02proof of citizenship. Do tell us more what is happening in the Supreme Court right now.

02:08So Anjali let's break this down into categories. The Supreme Court has earlier also accepted Aadhaar

02:15as the proof to be included in the voter lists. At the same time the court is clearly even today saying

02:22Aadhaar should be taken as the documentation while somebody is filling the form for the electoral rolls

02:31but it is not conclusive proof of citizenship. You can be allowed to submit your Aadhaar, you can be allowed to submit

02:38your voter EPIC card and Russian card but then somebody will have to verify if they are fake or not.

02:45That is where the comment from the court is coming in. Now as we speak this hearing has been going on for about

02:52a little more than an hour and a half now and what the petitioners have been arguing is twofold.

02:59First of all that the EC does not have the power to host this kind of exercise where they are effectively doing a citizenship test.

03:08Secondly that the procedure is not being followed by the Election Commission when they are taking these forms.

03:15The Supreme Court has asked a number of questions. Now remember when these hearings are going on,

03:21the Supreme Court does ask a lot of questions to figure out where the arguments will stand.

03:27And I am reading out the comment from the court. The court is questioning if today if I fill a form and

03:33attach an Aadhaar and a Rajan card then they will have to verify it. First let us see who are the people

03:40who have been excluded, who are the people who are entitled to get the information about who has been excluded

03:48from the voter list. Now the question really before the Supreme Court that is being pressed by the

03:53petitioners today is how exactly is the Election Commission excluding people without going through

04:00the entire process of citizenship verification and objections by a third party. Because remember

04:07according to the petitioners the representation of the people act clearly says nobody can be excluded

04:13unless that entire inquiry procedure and objection procedure has been gone into and the Election

04:18Commission is effectively excluding people without going through that procedure. That is where this

04:23entire argument lies and we will see how the argument develops further as the Supreme Court is hearing

04:30the matter. Thank you Anisha for all those details. So currently the hearing is underway and there are some

04:35important observations coming in and we'll keep reporting on it. But Anisha you know this hearing is key to the entire issue of SIR.

04:45If we look at it even the last time when the hearing was underway the court had a stand where it said that it should be

04:52very inclusive this entire exercise and it should be ensured that nobody is you know nobody's right to vote is taken away.

05:03So right now the arguments that are being put forward by the petitioners can you give us a little bit

05:10more information about it. What are they saying now especially since the roles were published.

05:18Anjali the petitioners have been saying pretty much the same legal arguments since the beginning that the

05:24roles that have been published especially now that we have information from the election commission that 65

05:30black people have been removed from the 2025 roles. What they are asking is on what basis are these people

05:38being removed. On what basis is the BLO conducting the investigation. First of all the major argument that

05:45they are raising by which senior advocate Kapil Sibhal and advocate Prashanthu Shun have both raised is that

05:51the BLOs have not gone door to door. They have not in fact conducted the survey exercise that is necessary

05:59where they have to go door to door where they have to ask the head of the family to certify who all are

06:05there in their households. That exercise according to the petitioners has not been done. According to the

06:11petitioners people who are still alive have been excluded as dead simply because they did not submit the form

06:18that has been issued by the election commission.

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