The Election Commission on Tuesday instructed the Bihar chief electoral officer to treat Aadhaar as a proof of identity, but not one of citizenship, for inclusion in the state’s revised electoral roll.

This came after the Supreme Court on Monday directed the poll panel to accept Aadhaar as the 12th document to establish identity for inclusion in the revised roll. The court has been hearing petitions challenging the revision of the voter rolls ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, expected to be held in October or November.

Aadhaar was not among the 11 documents that the poll panel had earlier 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”.

In a letter to the Bihar CEO on Tuesday, the Election Commission said that the Aadhaar would be treated as the 12th document, in addition to the 11 documents, in view of the court’s order.

“The Aadhaar Card is to be accepted and utilised as a proof of identity and not as a proof of citizenship, in terms of Section 9 of the Aadhaar (Delivery of Financial And Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act,” the poll panel said. “Under Section 23(4) of the Representation of People Act, 1950, the Aadhaar Card is already one of the documents enumerated for the purpose of establishing the identity of a person.”

These instructions must be communicated to all district election officers, electoral registration officers and assistant electoral registration officers, the Election Commission said.

“Any instance of non-compliance or refusal to accept Aadhaar in accordance with this directive shall be treated with utmost seriousness,” it added.

The draft electoral 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 court said that 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.

During the hearing, the court also said that while Aadhaar cards can be produced as a valid proof of identity, they are not proof of citizenship. Only “genuine citizens will be allowed to vote”, it said, directing the poll panel to verify the authenticity of Aadhaar cards submitted.

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.

Voter roll revision

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, the poll panel 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.