He went on to argue that the Aadhaar Act does not create citizenship; rather, it only serves as identification and evidence of residency.
BJP Clarifies Aadhaar Use
After the Supreme Court ruled that voters who were not included in the current SIR process in Bihar could submit their Aadhaar along with other documents, On Sunday, August 24, 2025, the BJP alleged the opposition was spreading propaganda. The BJP claimed that the Supreme Court had not stated that Aadhaar alone could be a legitimate document to obtain voting rights.
Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s IT department, said that Aadhaar is only evidence of identification and residency and does not prove citizenship. He also noted that the Supreme Court made no mention of using Aadhaar as a legitimate document for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the ruling.
Election Comission Backs Bihar Voter Revision
The Election Commission of India has justified its current Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Bihar electoral lists, saying it promotes election integrity by “weeding out ineligible persons” from the electoral records.
Despite legal concerns, the commission was already considering Aadhaar, voter cards, and ration cards for the limited purpose of identity during the SIR-2025 exercise, based on the affidavit of the election panel in a suit against the June 24 ruling ordering the SIR to examine the electoral register across India, beginning in Bihar.
Aadhaar Not Proof Citizenship
According to the Representation of the People Act, a person will not be allowed to register on the electoral roll if they are not an Indian citizen, have been found mentally incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction, or are disqualified by law for engaging in corrupt activities or election-related offenses, Mr. Malviya stated.
He went on to argue that the Aadhaar Act does not create citizenship; rather, it only serves as identification and evidence of residency.
Requesting that the Election Commission utilize Aadhaar as a document for automatic voter registration will defeat the intent of Section 16 of the RP Act and the Aadhaar Act. “This same court had declared on August 12 that Aadhaar is not a legal instrument to prove citizenship,” Mr. Malviya said.
In a jab at the opposing parties, he said that it was contempt of court to attribute to the Supreme Court something it had not stated.
“The fact is straightforward: SIR is intact, Aadhaar by itself cannot enroll you, and names of Bangladeshis and Rohingya will be eliminated. Only Indian people, not outsiders, will choose the next government,” he said.
Bihar’s draft voter list also eliminated 65 lakh names, including those of Bangladeshis, Rohingya, and expired persons, Mr. Malviya said.
Mr. Malviya said that just 84,305 objections have been submitted so far, which is only 1.3% of the total removed names, despite the Supreme Court’s request that the list of deleted names be made public so that those who were impacted might reapply. He said that it is far less than the typical margin of error.
The BJP leader went on, “Vote chori is obviously a fabricated cry.”