Decisive intervention: on the Supreme Court order, the Aadhaar card

The Supreme Court of India’s decisive intervention, ordering the Election Commission of India (ECI) to include the Aadhaar card as one of the 12 valid documents for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls, is vital course correction. It is a resounding victory for the fundamental right to vote, reaffirming the principle that procedural rigidity must not disenfranchise lakhs of eligible citizens. The ECI adopted questionable reasoning, insisting that Aadhaar was merely proof of residency, not citizenship, and was, therefore, inadmissible. The Court rightly dismantled this argument by pointing out the glaring inconsistency: if nine of the other 11 documents, save for a passport or birth certificate, do not conclusively prove citizenship, why single out Aadhaar for exclusion? The Court also said that Aadhaar could be used subject to verification of its authenticity. This judicial clarity was urgently needed. Empirical evidence demonstrates that excluding Aadhaar, which is held by nearly 90% of Bihar’s population, in favour of documents such as passports (held by a mere 2%) and others, would have created insurmountable barriers for a vast number of genuine voters, particularly among the poor and the marginalised. The ECI’s rushed SIR exercise had already resulted in the exclusion of over 65 lakh electors from the draft roll. A statistical analysis by The Hindu of this exclusion reveals several anomalies — disproportionate numbers of women removed, statistically improbable death rates in certain areas, and questionable “permanent shifts” of residents, especially migrant workers and married women. These patterns suggest a flawed process that prioritised haste over accuracy, risking the removal of legitimate voters.

The inclusion of Aadhaar paves the way for a smoother, more accessible verification process. First, it offered a lifeline to those unfairly struck off the rolls among the 65 lakh electors. It also assists electors already on the rolls who require document verification. It vindicates the persistent appeals from political and civil society activists who had warned that the ECI’s stance was creating a problematic situation on the ground where Aadhaar was not accepted as a verification document, contradicting the Court’s earlier guidance. Its order, on Monday, forces the ECI to align its procedures with the practical realities of identity verification in India today. This ruling has implications beyond Bihar, setting a precedent for all the other revisions envisaged across the country. For the ECI, the goal of electoral roll revision should be to ensure accuracy and inclusivity, not to rush the process through in a way that could affect citizens’ rights. The ECI must now pivot toward a more diligent and humane approach, emphasising thorough house-to-house verification and ensuring that the foundation of India’s democracy — the electoral roll — is both accurate and truly representative of all its people.