Supreme Court seeks Centre, States’ response on plea over ‘misuse’ of Aadhaar

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The plea has sought directions to the Centre, States and the Election Commission of India to ensure that Aadhaar is used as a proof of identity and not as a proof of citizenship, domicile, address and date of birth. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (June 16, 2026) sought responses from the Centre and States on a plea alleging misuse of Aadhaar cards issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) as proof of citizenship, domicile and residence. The petition claimed that “infiltrators and illegal immigrants” are able to obtain Aadhaar cards and project themselves as “lawful residents”, thereby availing benefits to which they are not legally entitled.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice V. Mohana issued notice on the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay and directed that it be tagged with similar pending petitions.

The petition contended that the continued use of Aadhaar for purposes beyond identity verification is contrary to Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, which expressly states that Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship or domicile. It also relied on a UIDAI notification issued in August 2023 clarifying that Aadhaar serves only as proof of identity and cannot be treated as proof of citizenship, residence or date of birth.

The plea also questioned the use of Aadhaar as proof of date of birth and residence in Form-6, the application form for fresh voter registration. Mr. Upadhyay argued that allowing Aadhaar to be used for this purpose could undermine the integrity of the electoral process.

“...Aadhaar is not only being used as proof of age, citizenship & domicile for school admission, property purchase, and to obtain birth certificate, ration card, driving licence, but also being used in the application form for new voter registration (Form-6) as proof of date of birth & proof of residence. And thus, infiltrators & illegal immigrants are obtaining various documents using the Aadhaar,” the plea st