SC to examine plea against linking of electoral roll data with Aadhaar

The Supreme Court on Monday decided to examine a plea against the central government's decision to enable the linking of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar number.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka tagged the petition filed by former Major General S G Vombatkere with similar pending petitions.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing the petitioner, contended that the right to vote cannot be denied on the ground of not having an Aadhaar card.

The bench said the argument seems to suggest that one, who does not have Aadhaar, should not be denied voting or even on having Aadhaar, it should not be compulsory.

The counsel said that the right to vote is one of the most sacred rights.

The bench agreed that the alternatives, in the absence of an Aadhaar card, may not even be available to people in the tribal areas.

The court was also informed that there is a specific section under the Aadhaar Act which states that an Aadhaar number is not proof of citizenship.

The counsel also said according to the previous judgement on validity of Aadhaar, only if some benefit is sought to be conferred then Aadhaar can be mandatory but not to deny rights. The right to vote is the highest of such rights, the bench noted while fixing the matter for hearing in December.

The central government had earlier amended the Registration of Electors Rules to allow linking Aadhaar details with a voters list to weed out duplicate entries.