Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar: SC refuses to stay publication of draft electoral rolls, asks ECI to accept Aadhaar, voter ID
The apex court, during the last hearing, had taken on record the ECI's submission that the list of documents for verification of election rolls in Bihar include 11 documents and it is not exhaustive and had asked the ECI to consider Aadhaar card, voter card and ration card as proof of identity.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (July 28), while refusing to stay the publication of draft electoral rolls in Bihar, asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to continue accepting Aadhaar Card and voter ID for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar in compliance with its order, saying both the documents had a "presumption of genuineness".
A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, while refusing interim stay on the publication of draft electoral rolls in Bihar, said that it would once for all decide the pleas challenging the ECI’s June 24, 2025 order to carry out SIR in poll-bound Bihar.
The bench said it would it would fix tomorrow (July 29) the time schedule to conduct the final hearing into the matter.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who appeared for a petitioner, sought an interim stay on the publication of the draft electoral rolls in Bihar, however, the court took note of the apex court’s last order, which noted that the petitioners did not press for an interim relief, and said that it couldn’t be done at this stage.
The bench said that it prima facie agreed with top court’s last order and the ECI accepted in its counter affidavit that Aadhaar Card, voter cards and ration cards were required to be accepted.
"As far as ration cards are concerned we can say they can be forged easily but Aadhaar and voter cards have some sanctity and have presumption of genuineness. You continue accepting these documents,” the bench told the ECI.
The apex court, during the last hearing, had taken on record the ECI’s submission that the list of documents for verification of election rolls in Bihar include 11 documents and it is not exhaustive and had asked the ECI to consider Aadhaar card, voter card and ration card as proof of identity.
The apex court is seized of pleas challenging the ECI’s June 24, 2025 order to carry out SIR in poll-bound Bihar and the petitioners include Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra, CPI leader D Raja, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, Samajwadi Party's Harinder Singh Malik, Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML), JMM's Sarfraz Ahmed, activist Yogendra Yadav, PUCL and NGO Association of Democratic Reforms.
The ECI recently filed its counter-affidavit in response to pleas challenging the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, and has denied all the allegations of the petitioners and justified the exercise, saying the SIR exercise adds to the purity of the elections by weeding out ineligible persons from the electoral rolls.