The Election Commission of India (ECI) has informed the Supreme Court that Aadhaar is being used strictly for verifying the identity of applicants during electoral roll revisions and not as proof of citizenship or as a basis for adding or deleting names from voter lists, a lawyer said on Saturday.
In an affidavit submitted before a bench headed by Justice Surya Kant, the ECI clarified that Aadhaar’s role in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is limited to identity verification. The Commission stressed that the card cannot be used to determine citizenship status.
The affidavit stated that the ECI has already instructed officials that Aadhaar should not be relied upon for inclusion or exclusion of voters, in accordance with Section 23(4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. It reiterated that Aadhaar’s scope is confined to establishing a person’s identity and not to validate their citizenship.
According to the Commission, the Supreme Court’s September 8 order had also confirmed that Aadhaar may be utilised solely to establish identity. Following this, the ECI issued instructions to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar making it clear that the card must not be treated as proof of citizenship under Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
The affidavit specified that the presence or absence of an Aadhaar number cannot be a determining factor for adding or deleting a name in the voter list. Officials were reminded that the legal framework does not permit Aadhaar to be used as citizenship evidence.
The Commission further cited the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Office Memorandum dated August 22, 2023, which stated that Aadhaar does not qualify as proof of citizenship, residence, or date of birth. This position was reinforced by referencing Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act, which explicitly emphasizes that an Aadhaar number does not validate citizenship or residency.
Earlier, on September 9, the ECI had issued instructions to all Chief Electoral Officers to ensure Aadhaar is used strictly for identity purposes while handling inclusion or exclusion in the revised electoral rolls of Bihar. These directives were issued as per the Supreme Court’s instructions.
The clarification came in response to a petition seeking directions to limit the use of Aadhaar strictly to identity verification and restrict its use as proof of date of birth in Form-6 applications. The ECI stated that the existing law already limits the scope of Aadhaar to identity confirmation and that all its guidelines remain consistent with the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
The Commission emphasized that its instructions and practices align with statutory requirements and that no deviation has occurred in the SIR process underway in Bihar.
