Accept Aadhar For Bihar SIR, Supreme Court Tells Election Commission
The court criticised political parties for not assisting the 6.5 million disenfranchised voters and questioned the role of booth-level agents.
The Supreme Court on Friday said voters in Bihar who were removed from the electoral roll during a recent revision exercise can use their Aadhaar card as proof of residence to seek re-inclusion ahead of state elections later this year.
A bench hearing petitions against the Election Commission’s special intensive revision of the voter list directed that Aadhaar be added to the list of 11 documents already accepted for re-registration. Applications can now be submitted with any of those 11, or with Aadhaar.
The court also turned its attention to political parties in Bihar, questioning their role in assisting the more than 6.5 million voters whose names were struck off the rolls.
“Political parties are not doing their jobs,” the bench observed, noting that while objections had been raised by individual MPs and MLAs, parties themselves had largely remained silent.
It also asked why booth-level agents, appointed by political parties to assist voters on the ground, had failed to support those affected. “What are your BLAs doing? Political parties must help voters,” the court said.
The ruling comes after opposition parties accused the Election Commission of attempting to disenfranchise sections of the electorate that traditionally support them. The Commission, however, has defended the revision exercise as necessary to maintain the integrity of the rolls.
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