Aadhaar, Citizenship, and Voting Rights: The Bihar Dispute Explained

The work of intensive voter list revision being carried out by the Election Commission in Bihar has now come under the purview of the Legal Services Authority. In this case, the petitions filed before the court are being heard, which are against the voter list revision. The order given by the court today in this regard is very important and indicates that the Election Commission cannot publish its final revised voter list on 30 September because the court has clearly said that the 65 lakh people whose names have been removed from the voter list of Bihar by the Election Commission will be given time to get their names added even after 1 September and the Election Commission cannot refuse to do so. During the hearing, it was argued on behalf of the petitioners that the Election Commission is not considering the Aadhaar card of the voters who want to get their names added or removed as a proof, whereas the court itself had ordered that the Aadhaar card should be considered as a sure proof. The petitioners have complained that despite this, the Election Commission is not accepting their applications and the polling station level officers are raising their hands.

On this, the judges of the Supreme Court directed that the volunteers of Bihar Legal Services Authority should be engaged in this work and political parties should also come forward and cooperate in this work. This shows that the work of the Election Commission will now be done in a completely transparent manner. The Election Commission had released the voter list of Bihar on an interim basis and said that out of the total 7.89 crore voters of the state, the names of 65 lakh people have been removed. Earlier it had refused to give the reason for this, but when the Supreme Court ordered, it made the names of all 65 lakh people public and also told the reason. The Election Commission is an autonomous independent institution in India and is not a part of the government. Its responsibility is directly towards the voters because it protects the constitutional right of one vote of Indian citizens. It is its duty to ensure that not even a single legitimate voter of India is left out. Since the entire democracy of India is basically dependent on the right to vote, therefore it is the right of every voter that his right to vote should be protected.

When the Election Commission revises its voter list, its aim is to ensure that every adult citizen above 18 years of age is eligible to cast his vote. Without any doubt, the Election Commission only registers the vote of valid citizens of India, but it does not have the authority to check the citizenship of voters. On the contrary, it is the responsibility of every voter to declare his citizenship. He has to give it in writing to the Election Commission that he is a citizen of India. Only the Union Home Ministry can check his citizenship. The Home Ministry conducts the census every ten years and the validity of Indian citizens is also checked in it. This work has not been done in India since 2010-11. Therefore, the Central Government had announced to conduct it three months ago. This census will start from February 2027. But before this, there will be a census of houses or families which will continue from April 26 to September. For this, the Registrar General of India has demanded about Rs 15 thousand crore from the government. It is very clear that every Indian will be counted in this census and those intruders who are living illegally on Indian soil will also be identified. But the name of any intruder should not appear in the voter list. There is a provision for this in the law.

Any voter's citizenship can be challenged by another person. It has its own procedure. It is not that such questions are being raised for the first time in India. In the 90s, when the late T.N. Seshan was the Chief Election Commissioner, he had made it mandatory for every voter to issue an identity card or voter card. This also helped in identifying infiltrators. But the current Chief Election Commissioner refused to accept Aadhaar card as the identity of the voter and made a rule to show any one of the 11 documents as proof which the citizens of India have. But Aadhaar card is such a document which almost every resident of India has. Of course, it is not the identity of citizenship but it proves that the person is a resident of India.

There is a difference between a resident and a citizen, which is identified by the Home Ministry. Therefore, the work of the Election Commission was limited to making the voter list. In the census to be held in the year 2027, caste census will also be done, which will help in knowing how many people in India belong to Scheduled Castes and Tribes, how many belong to backward classes, how many belong to minority communities and how many are so-called upper castes.

At present, the Election Commission is doing the work of voter list revision in Bihar and is depriving 65 lakh people of voting rights, about which it is being said that most of them are from the poor section and women are also included. Obviously, this has raised concern among the common people about their right to vote. The echo of Bihar is being heard in other states of the country as well. West Bengal is a direct proof of this. Elections are going to be held in this state next year in 2026. Along with this, elections are to be held in some other states as well. All the facts should be observed in the light of the latest decision of the Supreme Court. Broadly speaking, it can be said that the work of voter list revision should not be done in a hurry like Bihar.