Bihar SIR: Supreme Court Rules Poll Body Must Accept Aadhaar

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the Election Commission must accept Aadhaar as a valid document, delivering the decision during the ongoing hearing on the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue.

While hearing a plea on the Bihar SIR, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to accept 11 specified documents, including the Aadhaar card, emphasizing that the entire exercise should be voter-friendly. The Court also allowed the online submission of claims for deleted voters using an Aadhaar card or any other acceptable documents for Bihar SIR.

So far, 85,000 new voters have come forward in the SIR of Bihar, with only two objections filed by booth-level agents of political parties.

On August 18, the Election Commission published the list of 65 lakh names removed from the state’s electoral rolls after the Special Intensive Revision, following the Supreme Court’s directive on August 14. The directive instructed the Commission to publish the names of the removed voters along with the reasons for their deletion.