EC to restart Aadhaar-voter ID link
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday, March 18, proposed to link Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers with Aadhaar to avert voter manipulation. The poll body said it would soon begin technical consultations with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) regarding this. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi conducted a meeting with the Union Home Secretary, Secretary Legislative Department, Secretary of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and CEO, UIDAI and technical experts of the ECI in Nirvachan Sadan, in New Delhi on Tuesday. In a press statement, the ECI said that the linking of EPIC with Aadhaar will be done only as per the provisions of Article 326 of the constitution, Section 23(4), 23(5) and 23(6) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and in line with relevant orders issued by Supreme Court. "While, as per the Article 326 of the constitution of India, voting right can only be given to a citizen of India; Aadhaar card only establishes the identity of a person," it added. Recently, Opposition parties, including Congress and Trinamool Congress had raised concerns of abrupt deletion or addition of voters in several constituencies ahead of elections; and the presence of duplicate EPIC numbers. Following this, ECI had announced that it would conduct meetings with senior politicians and invite suggestions from political parties to strengthen the electoral process. The ECI had also promised to rectify the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers by allotting unique numbers. Revival of Aadhar-EPIC link Though the opposition parties have demanded ECI to resolve issues in the voters' list, the poll panel's move to bring in Aadhaar to clear the electoral roll is likely to face resistance. In March 2015, the ECI had launched a National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP), where it introduced the plan to link EPIC with Aadhaar number. As per reports, around 300 million voters’ IDs were linked with Aadhaar in three months then. However, the massive exercise was put on hold following a Supreme Court order in August 2015, which restricted mandatory use of Aadhar to welfare schemes. Congress welcomes move Meanwhile, Congress welcomed the ECI's move to link EPIC numbers with Aadhaar. A statement issued by the party's Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts (EAGLE), which was constituted to keep a watch on ECI and elections, said that the move was a clear acknowledgement of the charge that the Congress party and the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had been making about the 'suspicious and dubious nature of voter lists, as witnessed in the recent Maharashtra 2024 Vidhan Sabha elections'. "The main charge of the Congress party was that there was an abnormal increase in new voters enrolled in just five months between the Maharashtra Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, implying that either these were fake, duplicate or ghost voters.” “Fake or duplicate voters is a problem of one person having multiple voter-ids. The Election Commission has acknowledged this problem of ‘one person many voter-ids’ raised by the Congress party, which can be eliminated through de-duplication using Aadhaar," it said in the statement. The Congress, however, stressed that no citizens should be denied the right to vote due to Aadhaar linkage.
THE Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday, March 18, proposed to link Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers with Aadhaar to avert voter manipulation. The poll body said it would soon begin technical consultations with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) regarding this.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, met the Union Home Secretary, Secretary of the Legislative Department, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and CEO, UIDAI, and technical experts of the ECI in Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi on Tuesday.
In a press statement, the ECI said that the linking of EPIC with Aadhaar will be done only as per the provisions of Article 326 of the constitution, Section 23(4), 23(5), and 23(6) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and in line with relevant orders issued by the Supreme Court.
"While, as per Article 326 of the constitution of India, voting rights can only be given to a citizen of India; an Aadhaar card only establishes the identity of a person," it added.
Recently, opposition parties, including Congress and the Trinamool Congress, raised concerns of abrupt deletion or addition of voters in several constituencies ahead of elections; and the presence of duplicate EPIC numbers.
Following this, ECI announced that it would conduct meetings with senior politicians and invite suggestions from political parties to strengthen the electoral process. The ECI had also promised to rectify the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers by allotting unique numbers.
Revival of Aadhar-EPIC link
Though the opposition parties have demanded ECI to resolve issues in the voters' list, the poll panel's move to bring in Aadhaar to clear the electoral roll is likely to face resistance.
In March 2015, the ECI launched a National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) where it introduced the plan to link EPIC with the Aadhaar number. As per reports, around 300 million voters’ IDs were linked with Aadhaar in three months. However, the massive exercise was put on hold following a Supreme Court order in August 2015, which restricted the mandatory use of Aadhar to welfare schemes.
Congress welcomes move
Meanwhile, Congress welcomed the ECI's move to link EPIC numbers with Aadhaar. A statement issued by the party's Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts (EAGLE), which was constituted to keep a watch on ECI and elections, said that the move was a clear acknowledgment of the charge that the Congress party and the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had been making about the suspicious and dubious nature of voter lists, as witnessed in the recent Maharashtra 2024 Vidhan Sabha elections.
"The main charge of the Congress party was that there was an abnormal increase in new voters enrolled in just five months between the Maharashtra Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, implying that either these were fake, duplicate or ghost voters.”
“Fake or duplicate voters is a problem of one person having multiple voter IDs. The Election Commission has acknowledged this problem of ‘one person, many voter IDs' raised by the Congress party, which can be eliminated through de-duplication using Aadhaar," it said in the statement.
The Congress, however, stressed that no citizen should be denied the right to vote due to Aadhaar linkage.
