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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to hear Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa's plea seeking merger of voter ID card with Aadhaar and granted her liberty to assist its larger bench which is hearing the challenge to the Act governing the unique identity scheme. The plea filed by Pushpa, who has been expelled from the AIADMK, came up for hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.

"We are disposing of this petition with liberty to assist the constitution bench in the Aadhaar matter," the bench said.

A five-judge constitution bench is hearing a clutch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of government's flagship Aadhaar programme and its enabling Act of 2016.

The apex court had on December 15 last year extended till March 31 the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with various services and welfare schemes of all ministries and departments of the Centre, states and union territories.