Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 22: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to accept Aadhaar as valid proof of residence for voters in Bihar challenging their exclusion from the electoral roll ahead of the upcoming polls.

A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said Aadhaar would be added to the list of 11 accepted documents and set September 1 as the deadline for filing applications. The judges noted that around 35 lac voters had been left out after removing duplicate and deceased entries.

Applications for re-inclusion, the court said, can be filed both online and offline. It also directed poll officials to provide acknowledgment receipts for all submissions.

The bench came down heavily on political parties, questioning why they had not assisted lakhs of excluded voters. “We are surprised at what political parties are doing in Bihar. What are your booth-level agents (BLAs) doing? Political parties must help voters,” the court remarked.

The ECI told the court that while individual voters had actively filed objections, parties themselves had submitted none. It also revealed that BLAs were authorised to file 10 forms per day but had barely used the facility.

Advocate Vrinda Grover, representing one of the petitioners, flagged the seriousness of the exclusions. The bench, however, noted that voters were ‘more conscious than political parties’ and impleaded major parties in the case, posting the next hearing for September 8.

Earlier, the poll body said about 85,000 excluded voters had already sought re-inclusion, and more than two lac new voters had registered. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the ECI, urged the court to give 15 more days to prove there were no wrongful exclusions.