SC clarifies Aadhaar can be used for Voter Verification, not citizenship

The Supreme Court upheld the use of Aadhaar for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, rejecting arguments that private issuance makes it unreliable, and highlighted that several public functions today rely on private agencies, underscoring that Aadhaar remains a valid identity document though not proof of citizenship.

Petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay, represented by Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria, challenged the Election Commission’s inclusion of Aadhaar in the SIR process, claiming it is issued via privately run centres and cannot be considered reliable. The Bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, examined whether reliance on Aadhaar compromises the integrity of voter verification, while also addressing broader concerns that the SIR exercise might be politically motivated. Hansaria argued that Aadhaar could only prevent duplicate entries and that it does not prove citizenship or domicile.

Justice Bagchi noted that private involvement does not invalidate a public function, citing, “Do you know that even your passport issuance is outsourced to a private company? ” The Court emphasised that Aadhaar has consistently been recognised as an identity document, and that the prescribed list of SIR documents need not all directly establish citizenship.

The Bench rejected the suggestion that Aadhaar is unsuitable, clarifying its use is for identity verification, not citizenship determination.
 

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