By Arun Srivastava
The latest directive of the Supreme Court to ECI to treat Aadhaar the “12th document” which can be produced as proof of identity for the purpose of inclusion in the revised voters list of Bihar is too little and too less content wise. With barely 20 days left for the release of the final voter list, it has virtually lost its relevance. Damage has already been done and the Chief Election Commission, Gyanesh Kumar has succeeded to exclude huge number of Dalits, poor and minorities from exercising their constitutional right to elect their representative. This is what BJP wants to win polls in Bihar.
Ever ECI announced its intentions to implement SIR and identified 11 documents, excluding the Aadhaar card, as the proof of eligibility to cast vote, the opposition parties have been requesting the Supreme Court to take cognisance of CEC’s design and put a stop to it. But unfortunately the SC did not take their pleas seriously and on all the three dates, it asked the ECI to consider to accept Aadhaar as the 12th document. CEC took the advantage of SC not issuing an order and continued to act according to the brief handed over to him by political masters.
If the ECI is to be believed, the final list is ready and would be made public on September 30. This announcement makes clear that ECI will not prefer to have a relook at the final list and make any change. In the prevailing situation, it would be obviously too willing to promise to comply with the SC order, as it would be having many alibies to offer for not carrying out the SC order. It would always find convenient to hide behind the technical veneer and seek apology for not being able to present a cohesive and complete voter list and its inability to add the names of the voters which have already been deleted by it on the plea of being dead or untraceable.
On July 10, while refusing to stop the EC from proceeding with the SIR in Bihar, the Supreme Court had asked the poll body to consider Aadhaar, voter ID and ration card for updating the rolls, leaving the final call to the poll panel. On August 22, the court had said those who wanted to file claims against the exclusion of their names from the draft voters list can do so online by submitting any of the 11 documents mentioned by the EC or Aadhaar card.
SC’s order may appear to be a self-satisfying move, but in reality it will not make any difference to ECI and force it to reverse its earlier decisions. What made SC to crack its whip so late, just ahead of 20 days of the release of the final list is really intriguing. The most fascinating has been ECI consenting to abide by its order. On earlier occasions the ECI had vehemently opposed any such order. If SC really held the view that Aadhaar is a constitutionally valid document, in all fairness it should have agreed to the request of the opposition parties and directed the ECI to accept it as a valid document during the first hearing.
Unfortunately SC’s initial reluctance made it to crack whip on September 8. If it had conceded to the request of the opposition parties and ordered to treat Aadhaar as 12th document, the Gyanesh Kumar could have been prevented from indulging in such theatrics. The ECI has so far not substantiated its claim of 65 lakh voters going missing or are untraceable though it published the final draft list. ECI had revealed that over 65 lakh electors — nearly 8.3 per cent of the state’s total electorate — were either deceased, permanently shifted, untraceable or found to be registered at multiple locations. According to official data released by the ECI, out of 7.89 crore registered voters in Bihar as of June 24, 2025, enumeration forms were submitted by over 7.24 crore electors, reflecting a 91.69 per cent participation rate. However, the commission found that 22 lakh electors (2.83 per cent) had passed away, while another 36 lakh (4.59 per cent) were either permanently shifted or not found at their listed addresses.
Quite interesting was SIR showing women electors significantly outnumbered men in the “permanently shifted” category. This trend was more pronounced among younger voters below the age of 40. The ECI did not take pains to find out where these women went. May be it does not come under its operational ambit. A deeper analysis of the part-wise voter-list of over 65 lakh deleted electors in Bihar reveals multiple anomalies.
The SC in its order also announced that Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship. True enough the opposition has simply demanded to incorporate Aadhaar simply for the reason that poor people could vote as they do not have any other paper. But it was ECI that created confusion. It argued that it was also assessing the presence of foreigners and using its right to assess the nationality, which was not under its domain.
The first phase of Bihar’s SIR process, which included the submission of enumeration forms, concluded around July 25, 2025. This phase involved collecting forms from voters, with names of those whose forms were received included in the draft electoral roll published on August 1, 2025. The next phase, for claims and objections, ran from August 1 to September 1, 2025. Can the ECI really accomplish the mission by the time elections dates are announced? Certainly not. It was trying to fool the people and create an illusion that it was acting honestly.
With Aadhaar being accepted, 65 lakh individuals who were not included in the first draft electoral roll would be able to exercise their right. But what about the rest people whose names are missing or have mention in the dead or untraceable list of ECI. The final electoral roll for Bihar is scheduled to be published on September 30. The question that ECI ought to reply whether it would be able to provide a fault less list by this date?
On September 8 the SC observed; “There is no quarrel that as per the statutory status assigned to Aadhaar Card under the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, it is not a proof of citizenship and therefore shall not be accepted as proof of citizenship. However, keeping in view Section 23(4) of the Representation of People Act, 1950, Aadhaar Card is one of the documents enumerated for the purpose of establishing the identity of a person”.
But it is also a fact that only Indian citizens have the right to vote. Naturally in this backdrop one should presume that even a non-Indian could cast his vote? The judge said, “Those who are genuine citizens of this country, they are entitled to vote. Those who are claiming citizenship on the basis of forged or fabricated documents, they are liable to be excluded.” There is no doubt that it implies that a person voting on the strength of Aadhaar is genuine Indian citizen. (IPA Service)
