With about four months before assembly elections are due in Bihar, the ECI is undertaking a Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a major development in which the entire state voter list is being re-constituted. 

• This is a mammoth exercise akin to the creation of a National Register of Citizens, being attempted with limited manpower and time. 

• The process is beyond the ECI’s remit and is likely to exclude genuine voters, especially those enrolled since 2003, since it requires production of documents like proof of parents’ date or place of birth required for proving citizenship.

• Over 61 lakh voters may be excluded from the list. 

• A ground report by Kamayani Singh, Rahul Shastri, and Yogendra Yadav exposes the gaps between the ECI’s claims of supporting voters, and the ground reality of people forced to chase BLOs and produce multiple documents. 

• This exercise may be used to force Aadhaar linkage with electoral records, while raising doubts about the validity of Aadhaar as identification.

To understand the concerns over exclusion, legality, and surveillance surrounding the SIR, join the Rethink Aadhaar webinar with on India’s Identity Crisis: Bihar's Special Intensive Revision, Aadhaar and Citizenship on Sunday, 27 July, 2025 at 8:00 PM IST.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMCZrMuyexU/

Other updates

Reiterating limitations on Aadhaar use: the Bombay High Court issues a reminder that after the Supreme Court’s judgement in Puttaswamy (2018), banks cannot insist on Aadhaar for opening accounts. The HC awarded compensation of Rs. 50,000/- for losses incurred due to the bank’s refusal to open an account. 

However Aadhaar continues to be misapplied: forcing Aadhaar verification for tatkal bookings on IRCTC has not stopped agents from buying up tickets through bots using for-sale Aadhaar-verified login credentials. Genuine users risk losing access to their accounts, especially given IRCTC’s previous data breaches. 

Aadhaar use also continues to expand, now in employment: the Finance Ministry has allowed “voluntary” Aadhaar authentication to verify candidates for public sector banking jobs. 

Getting, keeping, and “verifying” Aadhaar becomes more difficult: 

• The Manipur government is adopting a stringent verification process to enroll and update Aadhaar, including mandatory biometric updates at ages 5-7 and after 15, and headquarter approval for “adult Aadhaar” cases.

• The Assam government has proposed requiring District Commissioners’ approval for adult Aadhaar applications. 

• The Odisha government plans to suspend 20.58 lakh ration cards for lack of e-KYC verification, forcing people to come to PDS stores or face deactivation of their ration cards. Previously, 19 lakh people were denied the right to food when the Odisha PDS mandated linking Aadhaar with ration cards. 

• Jan Dhan bank accounts, which were supposed to enable DBTs, are at risk of closure in an ongoing re-KYC exercise. (needs verification as the link is paywalled; the Govt insists there will be no closure of inactive accounts)

• De-activating an individual’s Aadhar after their death is slow: only 1.15 crore Aadhaar numbers have been de-activated, leading to inflated numbers which spark rumours of Aadhaar fraud or duplication.  

Digitisation drawbacks: The push for UPI adoption is leading to GST notices for small vendors in Karnataka, with plans to expand nationally.

Criminal justice and surveillance: A special two-part investigation into the use of facial recognition technology by the Delhi Police exposes how marginalised communities suffer the consequences of FRT’s failures, and how the Delhi Police ignored bias, abuse, data leaks, and human rights violations in sourcing this tech. 

Tech and state power: 

• How technology companies are furthering colonial oppression through “colonial algorithms”, with AI-targeting software, surveillance mechanisms, and censorship tools to enable violence against Palestinians, and maintain repressive power structures. 

• An exploration of how the Indian state is expanding its powers and undermining democracy as the relationship between the governed and the governors is increasingly controlled through digital technologies. 

From around the world: the Aadhaar experience serves as a cautionary tale for the Sri Lankan digitisation project.