SC Backs EC: Aadhaar Not Conclusive Proof of Citizenship

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) stance that Aadhaar cannot serve as definitive proof of citizenship, emphasizing that Indian citizenship must be verified through independent means.

This statement was made by a bench headed by Justice Surya Kant while hearing petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. Justice Kant, addressing senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for the petitioners, said, “The EC is right in stating that Aadhaar cannot be accepted as conclusive proof of citizenship — it requires verification.”

Justice Kant questioned whether the ECI had the power to carry out such a verification exercise. “If they don’t have the power, everything ends. But if they have the power, there can’t be a problem,” he remarked.

Speaking about the poll panel’s process, Sibal said it had led to a mass exclusion of voters, as many failed to fill out the required forms. He claimed that even voters from 2003, residing at the same address, were deleted from the rolls for not submitting the forms. Sibal further stated that EC data showed 7.24 crore people had submitted forms, but 65 lakh names were deleted without any proper survey to justify their removal. “They admit in their affidavit that they did not conduct any survey,” he told the bench.

The court questioned Sibal on the 65 lakhs figure, asking whether it was based on verification or merely apprehension. “We want to understand whether your apprehension is imaginary or a real concern,” the bench said.

Explaining the calculation, Sibal said there were 7.9 crore voters in the 2025 list, of whom 4.9 crore were also in the 2003 list, and that 22 lakhs were recorded as dead.