'…If given, it has to be accepted’: Supreme Court on Class 10 admit card as valid document for SIR in Bengal

The Supreme Court on Monday observed that Class 10 admit cards will be considered a valid document for verification for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of the voters’ list in West Bengal.

A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Joymalya Bagchi stated that an admit card issued by the Board has a “presumption, if it is given, it has to be accepted,” the top court was quoted as saying, according to Live Law.

The observations from the apex body came after the Election Commission, last week, refused to accept the Class 10 (Madhyamik) admit card as a valid document for the SIR. The poll body had underlined that, with the instructions issued on October 27, 2025, for the conduct of SIR in West Bengal, the Madhyamik admit card is not recognised as a valid document for verification purposes.

However, during the hearing on Monday, the top court questioned the EC’s decision to refuse acceptance of the Madhyamik admit card, even though it is listed as an acceptable document in the SIR guidelines.

Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for some petitioners, told the court that the ECI was accepting only the Class 10 result or pass certificate, which does not mention the date of birth. “The date of birth is mentioned only in the admit card,” he said.

The top court said that an admit card issued by the state board carries a presumption of correctness and “has to be accepted” if it is submitted for enumeration. It further stated that the admit card must be allowed, noting that the West Bengal Board prints the date of birth on the admit card and not on the pass certificate.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the ECI, said the petitioners had not clearly raised these issues in their written submissions. Banerjee disagreed and pointed to specific parts of the petition, also referring to an ECI press release stating that admit cards would not be accepted.

Dwivedi later told the court that he would examine the matter and “get back after taking instructions” from the Election Commission.