The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to accept the Aadhaar card as the “12th document” to establish identity for inclusion in Bihar’s revised electoral roll, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the revision of the voter rolls ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, expected to be held in October or November.

The Aadhaar card was not among the 11 documents that the poll panel had said could be submitted as proof of citizenship. Several petitioners had objected to the exclusion of Aadhaar, the most widely held ID, from the list of permissible documents, calling it “absurd”.

The draft roll published on August 1 showed that 65.6 lakh names were removed from the list. Of these, 22 lakh were due to deaths, 36 lakh were of people who had permanently shifted or were untraceable and seven lakh were duplicate entries, the Election Commission had said at the time.

On August 22, the Supreme Court said voters excluded from the draft electoral rolls can apply online for inclusion by submitting their Aadhaar cards or any of the 11 documents recognised by the Election Commission.

The court on Monday extended the direction to all voters, reported Bar and Bench.

It said that while Aadhaar cards can be produced as a valid proof of identity, they are not proof of citizenship, Live Law reported.

Only “genuine citizens will be allowed to vote”, said the bench, directing the poll panel to verify the authenticity of Aadhaar cards submitted.

“Nobody wants the Election Commission to include illegal immigrants in the electoral roll,” The Indian Express quoted the bench as saying.

On August 19, the Election Commission said that those aggrieved at being left out of the draft voters’ list in Bihar after the revision exercise can file claims using their Aadhaar cards.

The revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24.

As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list needed to submit proof of eligibility to vote.

Voters born before July 1, 1987, were required to show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, had to also submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of one of their parents.

Those born after December 2, 2004, needed proof of date of birth for themselves and both parents.

The deadline for submitting claims and objections to the draft rolls was September 1, while the final list will be published on September 30.

Concerns have been raised that the process could disenfranchise many voters. The Election Commission has defended the voter roll revision as a clean-up exercise to remove names of the deceased, duplicate entries and undocumented migrants.

On Monday, it said that 99.5% of Bihar’s 7.24 crore electors in the draft roll had already submitted eligibility documents for inclusion in the voter list.

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