NEW DELHI, July 28: Observing there should be “en masse inclusion” instead of “en masse exclusion” in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ list in poll-bound Bihar, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Election Commission to continue accepting Aadhaar and voter ID documents.
Underscoring the “presumption of genuineness” of the two documents, the top court also refused to stay the publication of the draft electoral roll in Bihar.
The draft roll is scheduled to be published on August 1 and the final roll on September 30 amid opposition claims that the ongoing exercise will deprive crores of eligible citizens from their right to vote. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi while asking the poll panel to continue accepting Aadhaar and voter ID for the SIR exercise in Bihar in compliance with its order said both documents had a “presumption of genuineness”.
“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 would on July 29 fix the time schedule to conduct the final hearing of the matter.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, said the electoral rolls should not be finalised in the interim, pressing for an interim stay on the publication of the draft rolls on August 1.
The bench, however, referred to the top court’s previous order noting the petitioners did not press for an interim relief, which couldn’t be allowed now and said the matter would be interpreted once and for all.
The bench noted the election commission’s statement that the enumeration forms for the SIR could be submitted even after the publication of draft rolls. On July 10, a bench headed by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia asked the EC to consider Aadhaar, voter ID and ration cards as valid documents as it allowed the poll panel to continue with its exercise in Bihar.
The top court on Monday said it prima facie agreed with the July 10 order and the Election Commission of India (ECI) accepted in its counter affidavit that Aadhaar, voter cards and ration cards could be accepted.
While expressing its reservation on ration cards, the bench endorsed the “presumption of genuineness” of the other two documents.
Sankaranarayanan said despite the ECI’s assertion in the counter affidavit of accepting Aadhaar and voter cards, ground reports suggested otherwise.
Justice Kant said the election commission suggested the list of 11 documents for the SIR exercise was not inclusive but exhaustive and they were using both Aadhaar and voter IDs for the purpose of identification.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the ECI, said Aadhaar was not a proof of citizenship and voter card was not relied upon as it was a revision exercise or else there was no use of such an exercise. (PTI)
