Aadhaar, voter ID and ration cards can’t be accepted as ‘standalone documents’ for SIR: ECI

The Election Commission (EC) assured the Supreme Court on Monday (July 21, 2025) that a person will not cease to be a citizen merely on being found ineligible for registration in the electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), currently underway in poll-bound Bihar.

“Under the SIR exercise, the citizenship of an individual will not terminate on account of the fact that he/she is held to be ineligible for registration in the electoral rolls,” the EC said in an 88-page affidavit.

The electoral body was responding to allegations raised by petitioners that SIR was “citizenship screening” and would lead to mass disenfranchisement.

The EC said it was vested under the law and Constitution with power to request proof of citizenship for “enabling the constitutional right to vote”.

“The guidelines issued for SIR are constitutional and in the interest of maintaining the purity of electoral rolls… However, it is reiterated that determination of non-eligibility of anyone under Article 326 [adult suffrage] will not lead to cancellation of citizenship,” the poll body explained.

The EC affidavit made it clear that voters who were already part of the existing 2025 electoral rolls of Bihar would feature in the draft roll to be published on August 1, provided they submitted their enumeration forms, with or without documents.

The existing electoral rolls were published in Bihar on January 7, 2025 after a special summary revision of the electoral rolls.

“In substance, each elector included in the 2025 electoral roll shall form part of the draft roll merely on submission of the enumeration form,” the affidavit stated.

The electors who were unable to submit their enumeration forms with documents in time for the draft roll had another opportunity to be included in the final roll. “This claims period is stipulated for another period of 31 data after publication of the draft roll, i.e., till September 1, 2025,” the EC clarified.

During the claims period, the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) shall scrutinise the enumeration forms and documents furnished after publication of the draft rolls. If the ERO has any doubt on the eligibility of any elector (who has submitted their documents or otherwise), a suo motu inquiry will be started by the ERO and a notice issued to the elector as to why his/her name should not be deleted. The ERO will decide on inclusion of such electors in the final roll based on documentation, field inquiry, or otherwise.

The final roll would be published on September 30, 2025.

“Even after the publication of the final roll, new electors can be enrolled up to the last date of nominations of the forthcoming Bihar elections… Any apprehension of huge disenfranchisement is misleading and non-existent,” the EC assured.

Further, the EC said electors whose names already feature in the electoral rolls of Bihar in 2003, when the last intensive revision was held, were exempted from furnishing documents to prove their eligibility. “They are only required to file the partially pre-filled enumeration form along with the extract of the 2003 roll,” the affidavit said.

Though the Supreme Court had asked the EC to consider including Aadhaar, voter ID and ration cards in the list of 11 indicative documents to register voters, the EC said they cannot be accepted as “standalone documents” for the purpose of SIR. “Aadhaar is merely a proof of identity. The card itself carries a disclaimer that it is not a proof of citizenship,” the affidavit.

The poll body pointed to the “widespread issuance of bogus ration cards”, making the document untrustworthy.

As for Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC), the EC reasoned that they were prepared on the basis of electoral rolls. “Since the electoral roll itself is being revised de novo, the production of EPICs will make the whole exercise futile,” the affidavit said.