ECI firm on Aadhaar, ration card exclusion ahead of Supreme Court hearing on Bihar voter revision

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is unlikely to change its position on the non-inclusion of Aadhaar and ration card before the Supreme Court for the Bihar Special Intensive Revision but is expected to tread cautiously on the issue and cite court pronouncements and government orders on the two not being proof of citizenship, ET has learnt.

The ECI is also expected to inform the SC that the period for enumeration in Bihar is not too short, as is being contended, and is in keeping with past intensive revision exercises, ET has gathered.The poll panel is expected to file an affidavit before the SC this week regarding the SIR in Bihar. The apex court will hear the matter on July 28.

In its July 10 hearing, the SC had asked the ECI to "consider" use of Aadhaar, ration card and voter ID card, besides its list of 11 valid documents, given their easier availability. The ECI has held that its list of 11 documents is "indicative" and "not exhaustive".


EPIC, Aadhaar, Ration Card
On voter ID card or Electors Photo ID Card (EPIC), the poll panel's contention largely is that the EPIC number is preprinted on the new enumeration form and so is already the basis of the SIR. Therefore, enlisting the EPIC card as a separate document of proof would not serve the desired purpose.

Aadhaar has been a matter of raging debate, with the ECI's several efforts in the past on making the Aadhaar-EPIC linkage mandatory hitting legal roadblocks.

The current enumeration form in Bihar also allows users to voluntarily disclose the Aadhaar number, as does Form 6 for registration of new voters. At the same time, there are several court observations as well as central government orders, including by the Unique Identification Authority of India, which administers Aadhaar, that Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship but of identity and address. The new cards also carry such a disclaimer printed on them, the poll panel is likely to point out. In the landmark Justice KS Puttaswamy Vs Union of India, 2018 case, the Supreme Court, while upholding the constitutional validity of Aadhaar, referred to Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, which states, "The Aadhaar number or the authentication thereof shall not, by itself, confer any right of, or be proof of, citizenship or domicile in respect of an Aadhaar number holder."

In May 2025, the Delhi Police also said it would not accept Aadhaar or ration card as citizenship proofs, given misuse by illegal foreign immigrants. The ration card, similarly, is mainly considered a document to facilitate the public distribution system and not a citizenship proof. The March 20, 2015 gazette notification by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said, "Ration card shall not be used as a document of identity or proof of residence".

Further, on May 14, 2016, the Ministry of External Affairs informed Parliament that it had decided "not to accept ration cards as a document for identity or proof of residence for the purpose of granting passports with effect from 01.04.2016".

SIR window 'too short'
The one-month window for house-to-house verification and enumeration form submission in Bihar SIR - June 25 to July 25 - has caused much concern. The ECI, however, is expected to contend that even in the past, including in the 2003 intensive revision in Bihar, the enumeration exercise was conducted over a period of 30-33 days, according to people in the know. Similarly, in the 2004 intensive revision across seven north-eastern states, house-to-house enumeration was done from August 2 till September 3. On the other hand, the time for "pre revision" activity is decidedly shorter in the ongoing SIR in Bihar compared to the one-month period in 2004.

The SIR instructions issued by the ECI on June 24 did not mention any pre-revision activity schedule. Officials told ET that this period could be compressed considerably now given the availability of superior technology.