NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea against the central government's decision to link electoral roll data with the Aadhaar number.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka ordered to tag the petition filed by former Major General S G Vombatkere with similar pending petitions.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan appeared for the petitioner.
He submitted 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 noted the alternatives, in the absence of an Aadhaar card, may not even be available to people in the tribal areas.
During the hearing, 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, as it fixed 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.
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