Supreme Court Reiterates Aadhaar Is Not Proof Of Citizenship
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2025-09-02 06:22:52
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
Every political party always hopes to run the nation, either alone or as part of a coalition, if given a chance. They also know that their leaders and members run for elections which make them law-makers. The very same political parties allege that there is judicial overreach in India when judges seek to read down laws made by assemblies and the Parliament. Hence, it is surprising that these parties have now approached the Supreme Court for it to issue an order directing the Election Commission (EC) to accept the Aadhaar Card as proof of citizenship.
The law is clear - Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act says : "The Aadhaar number or the authentication thereof shall not, by itself, confer any right of, or be proof of, citizenship or domicile in respect of an Aadhaar number holder." This should settle the question once and for all that having an Aadhaar does not necessarily mean that a person is an Indian citizen.
But given the large scale deletion of voters' names in the SIR in Bihar, political parties are clamouring that Aadhaar be accepted as stand-alone proof of citizenship and those having Aadhar should not be left out of the voter's list. The Supreme Court was not amused and it threw out the petitions saying that the status of Aadhaar cannot be enhanced beyond what has been laid down in the law. The bench referred to the Puttaswamy judgment which upheld the Aadhaar Act and said that it cannot go beyond what was said in the judgment.
If they are so concerned about the left out voters, the political parties should, as advised by the court, activate their workers and agents and help the voters lodge claims by supporting them with the list of documents prescribed by the EC. Trying to force the acceptance of a document which is not proof of citizenship does not show them in good light and will be counter-productive in the long run.
