Supreme Court rejects plea to drop Aadhaar from voter verification

The Supreme Court has dismissed arguments seeking the exclusion of Aadhaar from the list of documents permitted for voter identity verification during the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The court observed that the possibility of forgery applies equally to other government-issued documents, including passports.

During a hearing of the plea challenging the inclusion of Aadhaar as an “indicative” document for voter verification, the Bench remarked that forgery risks could not form a valid basis to single out Aadhaar for exclusion, particularly when other documents accepted by the Election Commission are also processed through private agencies.

Drawing a parallel with passport issuance, the court noted that passport services, too, are outsourced to private service providers functioning under government oversight.

“Do you know that a passport is also outsourced to a private agency under the auspices of the Government of India?” the court observed, adding that private Aadhaar enrolment centres operate within a statutory framework and perform a public duty.

The court emphasized that Aadhaar is a public document and that the mere involvement of private enrolment centres does not undermine its legal standing.

“Any document can be forged. Even a passport can be forged. While issuing Aadhaar, the private centre is performing a public function,” the Bench said while responding to submissions that Aadhaar enrolments were vulnerable to misuse.