SIR in Bihar: Is Aadhaar valid for voter identification; is it also a proof of citizenship? Check latest Supreme Court ruling
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard the petitions filed against SIR (Voter Verification) in Bihar. The court said - Aadhaar is a certificate of identity, not of citizenship.
The court ordered the Election Commission to consider Aadhar as the 12th document for voter identification. Currently, there are 11 prescribed documents for Bihar SIR, which voters have to submit with their form.
The bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also said that if there is any doubt regarding the Aadhaar card, then the commission should investigate it. No one wants the Election Commission to include illegal immigrants in the voter list. Only real citizens will be allowed to vote. Those who are making claims on the basis of fake documents will be excluded from the voter list.
Aadhaar is not being accepted for 65 lakh people: Sibal
When the hearing started, Congress leader and senior advocate Kapil Sibal said in the court - On July 10, the court asked the Election Commission to accept the Aadhaar card.
Even now Aadhaar is not being accepted for 65 lakh people. BLOs were instructed that one of the 11 documents is necessary.
The Election Commission is punishing the officials who accept documents outside the 11. The Election Commission has issued a show cause notice to the officials who accepted Aadhaar.
On this, the court asked to present the notice. On this Rakesh Dwivedi, the lawyer representing the Election Commission, said - we do not have it.
In response to this Kapil Sibal said - these are your documents, it has the signature of the Election Registration Officer. Now the hearing in this case will be held on next Monday i.e. 15 September.
Prakash Kumar Pandey