CEC calls top officials’ meeting over linking Aadhaar, voter ID

New Delhi Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has scheduled detailed discussions for March 18 with secretaries from the Union home ministry and the legislative department about linking Aadhaar identification numbers with voter ID cards, Election Commission of India officials said on Saturday.

The high-level meeting comes after Kumar directed chief electoral officers from all states and Union territories on March 4-5 that “all attempts should be made to link electoral rolls with Aadhaar,”, as reported by HT first on March 12.

The timing is significant as opposition parties have intensified allegations of voter fraud and manipulation involving duplicate voter IDs, accusing the Election Commission of aligning with the central government’s interests.

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Four senior officials told HT that the Election Commission had previously planned to make the Aadhaar-voter ID connection effectively mandatory, although in a subsequent 2023 submission to the Supreme Court, the panel said such linking was not mandatory.

“The form 6B doesn’t say anywhere that furnishing Aadhaar is mandatory, but there is no option for the elector to say ‘I have an Aadhaar number but I won’t give it,’” explained one official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to discuss internal deliberations. “The ECI, in consultation with the law ministry, left no scope for it to be voluntary else why would people give Aadhaar.”

The officials confirmed that both the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which administers the Aadhaar program, and the law ministry were consulted extensively before the law was amended to enable the linkage.

Also Read | Oppn raises chorus for Parl debate on electoral ID cards

The legal foundation for connecting the two identification systems was established through the Election Laws (Amendment) Act of 2021, notified on December 29, 2021. The legislation amended Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act 1950, empowering electoral registration officers to “require” Aadhaar numbers from both prospective and existing voters to establish their identity.

While the amendment included language stating that applications for inclusion in electoral rolls couldn’t be denied and existing entries couldn’t be deleted for not furnishing Aadhaar “due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed,” the Election Commission’s implementation appears to have created a de facto requirement.

On August 1, 2022, the Commission introduced Form 6B, described as a “letter of information of Aadhaar number for the purpose of electoral roll authentication.” The form provides voters with only two options: provide their Aadhaar number or declare they don’t have one and submit alternative documentation.

Similarly, Form 6, which new voters must use to register, contains a field requiring applicants to either provide their Aadhaar number or declare they don’t have one. There is no option for voters who have Aadhaar but choose not to link it with their voter registration.

It was these changes in 2022 on which the top court was hearing a petition. Following the ECI’s submission that Aadhaar number was not mandatory under the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules, 2022, and the poll body was “looking into issuing appropriate clarificatory changes in the forms introduced for the purpose”, the court then disposed of the petitions.

Law minister Kiren Rijiju previously informed Parliament that under rule 26B of the registration of electors (amendment) rules, 2022, a person listed in the electoral roll “may intimate his Aadhaar number” to registration officers using Form 6B.

It remains to be seen how ECI now revives the linkage plan.

Election officials maintain that the primary purpose of the linkage is to eliminate duplicate voter IDs, a persistent problem that has complicated India’s electoral management. An official explained that there are two categories of problematic entries: multiple voters sharing the same ID number and individual voters possessing multiple ID numbers across different constituencies.

“The issue of the same elector having multiple EPIC numbers has been bothering the EC for a long time. It is in this category that Aadhaar linkage is required,” the official said, using the acronym for Elector Photo Identity Card.

The Commission currently employs a system using Demographically Similar Entries (DSE) and Photographically Similar Entries (PSE) to identify potential duplicates. DSEs match name, relation name, relation type, age and gender, while PSEs compare photographs of voters.

“Both DSE and PSE are identified using deep learning technology in the ERONet software platform and can be used for deletion in an assembly constituency or across constituencies within a state,” an election official explained.

However, officials describe the current process as “extremely time-consuming,” with Electoral Registration Officers depending on India Post for delivering notices and verification. “This exercise has not been conducted at a Pan-India level due to the lack of scalability. The Aadhaar linkage is sought to remove this gap as deletion has always been a politically sensitive issue,” the official added.

Sources familiar with the plans said the Aadhaar linkage issue is also likely to be discussed in upcoming meetings between Election Commission officials and representatives from various political parties.