Congress welcomes Supreme Court order on proof of identity in Bihar SIR

The Congress on Saturday (July 12, 2025) said it was satisfied with the Supreme Court order asking the Election Commission of India (ECI) to consider the Aadhaar card, EPIC (Electoral Photo Identity Card), and ration card as valid proof of identity for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

Addressing a press conference at the All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi, senior party leader and Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the party had never pressed for a stay on the SIR exercise in the first hearing itself.

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The top court had validated the Aadhar card, EPIC, and ration card as proofs of identity, roughly covering 90% of the people who could be affected by the SIR exercise, Mr. Singhvi said.

“India lives on Aadhaar, from rations to rail, but for elections, it’s suddenly a fairy tale? You amended the law to embrace Aadhaar, then kicked it out from the main bazaar,” he said, asserting the Aadhaar card was an important proof of identity.

The Bihar SIR of electoral rolls could disenfranchise about two crore voters out of about 4.9 crore voters registered after the year 2003, the Congress leader said.

“It was beyond the jurisdiction of the Election Commission of India to verify the citizenship of people,” Mr. Singhvi, who also argued the case before the Supreme Court, said.

Ten elections had been held since 2003, when the previous SIR was completed. “What was the hurry to carry out another revision just before the Bihar elections, which are just a few months away. The previous revision in 2003 was done one year before the Parliamentary elections, and about two years before the Assembly elections,” the Congress leader said.

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The exercise would mainly affect the marginalised, poor, disadvantaged, minority voters, Mr. Singhvi said. Further, he argued, during the months of July and August, most workers in Bihar migrated to different parts of the country for paddy sowing, and there was also the imminent threat of floods in the State.

“It will be impossible for such people to produce proof of residence, like the birth certificates of their parents, in such a short span of time,” Mr. Singhvi said.