Owaisi Backs SC Order on Aadhaar, Ration Card Voter Checks

All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision asking the Election Commission (EC) to consider Aadhar, EPIC and Ration cards as Identification proof amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision ( SIR) exercise in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, and hoped for the 1995 precedent on Babu Lal Hussein case to be followed in "letter and spirit."

Bihar Election 'Intensive Revision': The Supreme Court ordered that, in addition to 11 documents listed by the Election Commission of India, three more should be considered: Aadhaar, EPIC & Ration Cards. This is a welcome order, and we hope that the precedent set in the 1995 judgement of the Babu Lal Hussein case is followed in letter and spirit. AIMIM Bihar President Akhtarul Iman had also challenged the ECI's SIR before the Supreme Court & was represented by Advocate Nizam Pasha," Owaisi posed on X.

Accusing the "Election Commission sources" of misinterpreting SC's order, he criticised the reports quoting them, which claimed that the constitutional body accepts Aadhar as per page 16 of the Special Intensive Revision, while also informing about the EPIC number being "pre-printed" on the enumeration forms being meted out.

He said that the apex court asking the Election Commission to include three additional documents was meant for dealing with the verification of voters and was not for mere record-keeping.