In the final hearing of petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in several states, the Supreme Court expounded that the possession of Aadhaar cards cannot be held for proof of citizenship.
The apex court bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, also made it clear that the Election Commission reserves authority "to determine the correctness of entries in Form 6," India Today reported.
What did the Supreme Court say on Aadhaar Cards?
Underlining the limitations of wielding an Aadhaar card, CJI Kant remarked, "Aadhaar is a creation of statute for availing benefits. Just because a person was granted Aadhaar for ration, should he be made a voter also? Suppose someone belongs to a neighbouring country and works as a labourer, shall he be allowed to vote?"
The judges also commented that the Election Commission is not bound to accept every Form 6 submission and include the names of every applicant.
While senior advocate Kapil Sibal argued for the petitioners that the SIR exercise is proving to be an overload on common citizens and voters because many may grapple with the paperwork, risking their suffrage rights, the judges said that the argument against the Election Commission that such an exercise hasn't been conducted in earlier times doesn't not mean that the Commission doesn't possess the authority to conduct it now. However, the SC made it clear that people whose names are being deleted from the rolls must be served with prior notice.
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Separate timelines have been set up for the EC to respond to challenges to the SIR exercise in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal, reported India Today.
The poll body will have to respond to the petitions from Tamil Nadu by December 1, before a hearing on December 4. Kerala petitions will come up on December 2, and the Commission is expected to reply on the first of the month.
When will petitions from West Bengal come up?
The SIR exercise in West Bengal has been subjected to a lot of dispute, where several BLOs have died by suicide, and the political blame-game is at its peak. Petitions from the state will be heard on December 9, while the state Election Commission and state government will be submitting their responses by December 1.
