Recently, the Supreme Court asked the Election Commission (EC) to accept Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards for updating the electoral rolls in Bihar. This came in response to concerns about exclusions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. 

• The court reminded that the right to vote lies at the core of India’s democratic functioning.

India’s Universal Adult Suffrage

• It means every adult in the country has the right to vote—no matter their gender, caste, religion, education, or wealth.
• The Right to Vote means that every eligible Indian citizen has the power to choose their representatives through free and fair elections.

• Unlike countries such as the UK and the US, where voting rights were introduced gradually, India granted universal adult suffrage right from the beginning—through Article 326 of the Constitution, which makes it as a constitutional right.
• Voting rights were granted to all adults regardless of caste, gender, religion, or education.
• The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 through the 61st Constitutional Amendment in 1989.
• With over 173 million voters in the first election—many illiterate—then Chief Election Commissioner Sukumar Sen introduced election symbols, making voting more accessible to all citizens.

Legal Status of Voting in India

• In Kuldip Nayar v. Union of India (2006), a five-judge bench  held that the ‘right to elect’ is a statutory right under Section 62 of the RPA, 1951, and not a fundamental or constitutional right.
• In Rajbala v. State of Haryana (2016), a two-judge bench called it a “constitutional right,” but the Kuldip Nayar (5 Judge bench) ruling still holds.
• In Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023), the Supreme Court declined to revisit this view, noting that it had already been settled by the five-judge Bench in the Kuldip Nayar judgment. 
• Even as a statutory right, the court has said voting is essential to democracy and governance. It reflects the people’s will and helps shape accountable leadership. 

Importance of Electoral Roll Accuracy

• Free and Fair Elections Need Clean Voter Lists. Accurate electoral rolls ensure the “one person, one vote” principle.
• Errors like: Duplicate entries, Mass Omissions, Inclusion of ineligible names can affect the election outcomes and public trust.
• Election Commission’s Role: Under Section 21 of the RPA, 1950, the EC has the authority to update and revise voter rolls. 
  • The Supreme Court supported allowing Aadhaar and other ID documents to make inclusion easier, especially for the poor and marginalised.
• In Lakshmi Charan Sen v. A.K.M. Hassan Uzzaman (1985), the court said that political parties also have a role in ensuring eligible voters are added and ineligible names are removed.

Eligibility and Ordinary Resident

• To be on the electoral roll, a person must  be a citizen of India, 18 years or older and an “ordinary resident” of the constituency.

• Ordinary Residence: A person genuinely and regularly resides in a place. Temporary presence or use of a formal address doesn’t qualify.
  • Example: A student living in a hostel may not qualify if their true home is elsewhere.
• In Manmohan Singh’s case (1991), the court clarified that voters must have genuine, habitual residence, not just nominal ties to a location.

Citizenship Verification Debate in Bihar

• A central concern in Bihar’s special intensive revision(SIR) process is citizenship verification
• In Lal Babu Hussein v. ERO (1995), the Supreme Court struck down EC guidelines that allowed deletion of names based on suspicion of foreign origin.
• The Court ruled:
  • Citizenship cannot be questioned without due process.
  • Past voter rolls should be respected.
  • The burden of proof cannot be unfairly placed on the voter alone.
• These safeguards were reaffirmed in Md. Rahim Ali v. Union of India (2024), which emphasized that allegations or suspicion are not sufficient grounds to deny voting rights — exclusion must be based on credible evidence and due process.

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