Bihar roll revision: SC says Aadhaar cannot be standalone proof of citizenship

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected demands from political parties to direct the Election Commission (EC) to accept Aadhaar as the sole proof of citizenship for enrolment in Bihar’s voter list, prepared after the special intensive revision (SIR).

The court emphasised that the legal status of Aadhaar cannot be extended beyond what is laid down in law.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, which had earlier ruled that Aadhaar could be used as an identity document alongside other documents specified by the EC, clarified on Monday: “Aadhaar will be one of the documents for verification.”


RJD counsel Prashant Bhushan had argued that the EC was not accepting Aadhaar as standalone proof of identity for the 65 lakh names removed from the draft voter list despite court orders.

The bench responded, “We cannot enhance the status of Aadhaar beyond what is ascribed to it by the Aadhaar Act. We can also not go beyond what was said by a five-judge bench in Puttaswamy judgment while upholding Aadhaar.”

Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act explicitly 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.”

The September 2018 Puttaswamy case judgment similarly noted that “An Aadhaar number also does not, by itself, constitute a conferment of a right of citizenship, or domicile.”

When other petitioners, including political parties, pressed to elevate Aadhaar from a biometric proof of identity to proof of citizenship for voter registration, the bench asked, “Why is there so much of emphasis on Aadhaar? We will not pass an order that Aadhaar is the final proof of citizenship.”

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the EC, pointed out that repeated reliance on Aadhaar was due to anomalies in Bihar, where certain districts reported “Aadhaar saturation is 140%”, suggesting large-scale issuance of bogus identity cards. The Centre also highlighted instances where illegal Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingyas had fraudulently obtained Aadhaar cards in some states.

The bench advised political parties to mobilise grassroots workers and booth-level agents to identify individuals wrongly deleted from the draft voter list and assist them in filing claims with booth-level officers of the Election Commission to ensure inclusion in the final voter list.