Aadhaar no proof of citizenship, says EC amid Bihar voter list revision row

Amid the raging controversy over the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the Election Commission (EC) has stated that Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship. Opposition parties have alleged that seeking documents apart from Aadhaar from voters related to their birthplace or date of birth is akin to disenfranchising around two crore voters, mainly Dalits and poor as well as migrants.

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The EC further said⁠ Aadhaar was not a proof of date or place of birth either and that it only defined that the finger prints, photo and iris were of a specific individual.

The opposition INDIA led by the Congress has questioned the EC’s decision of not including Aadhaar as one of the valid documents of proof of voters in Bihar, where Assembly elections are due in October this year.

It has further alleged that it will be difficult for voters across the state to fetch their birth certificates to prove their identity as voters, with millions of them living in villages. The Opposition has further questioned the sudden decision to conduct the SIR in the state as well as its timing.

The election panel reiterated that in order to get one’s name in the draft roll, to be published on August 1, the strict condition was to sign and submit the pre-printed enumeration form before July 25. The step, sources said, would weed out non-existent voters either dead or those who had migrated and were not ordinary residents of a particular Assembly constituency.

Based on the documents attached or otherwise, along with the signed enumeration form, eligibility verification of each name included in the draft rolls would be done continuously after their receipt, they clarified.

Verification would start vigorously from August 2 onwards after the publication of draft electoral rolls, the sources informed further.

Based on the published draft of the electoral rolls, the claims and objections would be received from political parties or public from August 2 onwards.