High level meeting to discuss linking of voter ID with Aadhaar

Amid allegations of manipulation of voter lists by opposition parties, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has called a meeting with Union Home Secretary, Legislative Secretary, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to discuss linking of voter ID cards with Aadhaar. For more updates on national news, visit Vaartha’s National section.

Will meet officials on March 18

Election Commission (EC) sources said on Saturday that Mr. Kumar will meet officials on March 18. The move comes after the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal raised the issue of issuance of duplicate Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers to voters in various states where assembly elections are due in 2026. Opposition parties have raised the matter in Parliament and outside. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi raised the issue in the Lok Sabha. For further developments, check Vaartha’s e-paper.

Earlier, the Congress had alleged manipulation of voter lists during the Maharashtra assembly elections. The Election Commission had clarified that this duplication was due to manual errors before the ERONET digital platform for voter enrolment was launched. It had also assured that voters with the same EPIC number registered in different states can still vote using their residence documents. The Election Commission had promised to resolve the issue in three months.

Attempt to link Aadhaar-Voter ID in February 2015

The ECI had first tried Aadhaar-voter ID linking in February 2015 when it launched the National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) to address duplicate entries in the voter list. It had added over 300 million voters in a period of three months. However, the Supreme Court, in an interim order in August 2015, had said that the mandatory use of Aadhaar should be only for welfare schemes and PAN linking. Following this order, the NERPAP exercise was stopped.

The Centre has informed Parliament that the Aadhaar-voter ID seeding exercise was “process-driven” and no target or timeline has been set for the proposed linking. It has also clarified that those who do not link their Aadhaar details with their voter ID cards will not have their names deleted from the electoral rolls. As per Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, as amended by the Election Laws (Amendment) Act in 2021, electoral registration officers are required to ask existing or prospective voters to provide their Aadhaar number to establish their identity on a voluntary basis.

The meeting called by the CEC is a “measure to save face”

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress on Saturday said the meeting called by the CEC was a "face-saving measure." "First, three statements. Now this meeting. This is just a face-saving measure. We will maintain a strict vigil till the elections," said Sagarika Ghose, Trinamool Congress deputy leader in Rajya Sabha. A 10-member delegation of the party met the full bench of the Election Commission on March 11 on the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers. In a memorandum to the ECI, the party had also said that there were "credible allegations of cloning of Aadhaar cards and these cloned Aadhaar cards being used for fraudulent voter registration."