Supreme Court Asks Congress Leader RS Surjewala To Raise Challenge Against Voter ID-Aaadhaar Linking Before High Court

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain the Public Interest Litigation filed by Congress General Secretary and Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala challenging the provisions of Election Laws (Amendment) Act 2021 which allows the linking of voter cards with Aadhaar numbers.

A bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna asked the petitioner to move the High Court raising the challenge.

"Why don't you move the Delhi High Court?", the bench asked the counsel for the petitioner when the matter was taken.

"Actually three different States will go to election. There may be variance in outcomes of the different HCs", the counsel said.

If there are multiplicity of proceedings, the Centre can move the Supreme Court for clubbing and transfer, the bench said. "Later, if required, it can be clubbed and sent to one HC", the bench observed.

"Since the petitioner challenges the validity of, inter alia, Section 4 and 5 of the Election Law Amendment Act 2021, an efficacious alternate remedy is available before the HC. In view of the remedy we grant liberty to move petition under A. 226 before the HC", the order noted.

The petition placed heavy reliance on the Supreme Court's 2018 judgment which upheld the Aadhaar Act 2016. The petitioner argues that the linking of voter cards and Aadhaar numbers fails to clear the test of proportionality, specifically the "Necessity Stage" and "Balancing Stage" of the Proportionality Test as laid down in the Aadhaar case judgment.

The petitioner argues that this move can result in the "disenfranchisement of millions of voters", despite possession valid identity documents. Also, it is argued that there exists an equally effective alternative mechanism to curb the menace of multiple enrolments of same voter at several places.

The further argument is that the amendment violates the right to equality. "The Impugned Amendment is clearly violative of the Article 14 of the CoI as it first, treats equals as unequal, i.e., all voters with EPIC, who have an equal right to vote are being treated unequally by the Impugned Amendment and second, voters with EPIC along with Aadhaar card are being allowed to cast their vote while voters with only EPIC, are now required to satisfy ERO with sufficient cause and arrange alternate document to the satisfaction of ERO before being allowed to vote. That the Impugned Amendment while creating the different classes between voters, i.e., between voters with Aadhaar and voters without Aadhaar, is clearly violative of Article 14", the plea says.

The move can also violate the concept of secret ballot, the petitioner apprehends. 

The petitioner further argued that the amendment is "manifestly arbitrary and completely irrational" as it intends to link two completely distinct documents (along with their data), i.e., the Aadhaar Card, which is a proof of residency (permanent or temporary) and EPIC/Voter ID, which is a proof of citizenship.

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