Linking of Aadhaar and electoral ID is voluntary

Linking of Aadhaar and electoral ID is voluntary

Subject :Polity

Context: Terming the exercise to link Aadhaar with election photo identity card (EPIC) as ‘voluntary,’ Law Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Lok Sabha said that people who don’t link their Aadhaar with EPIC will not be struck off the voters list.

Aadhaar-Voter ID Linkage

• Legal status: In December 2021, Parliament passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 to amend the Representation of the People, Act, 1950, Section 23(4) was inserted in the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
• According to it the electoral registration officer may for the purpose of establishing the identity of any person or for the purposes of authentication of entries in electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency for citizens already enrolled, require them to furnish their Aadhaar numbers.

Recent Changes:

• Recently, the government notified changes to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
• Rule 26B was added to provide that every person whose name is listed in the roll may give his Aadhar number to the registration officer.

Confusing Government Actions:

• There have been assurances given by both the government and the EC that linkage of the Aadhaar with Voter ID is optional, but this does not seem to be reflected in Form 6B issued under the new Rule 26B.
• Form 6B:
  • It provides the format in which Aadhaar information may be submitted to the electoral registration officer.
  • Further, it provides the voter to either submit their Aadhaar number or any other listed document.
  • However, the option to submit other listed documents is exercisable only if the voter is not able to furnish their Aadhaar number because they do not have an Aadhaar number.

Previous attempts made in this regard

• In 2014, the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducted two pilot programmes on linking the voter id with Aadhaar in the districts of Nizamabad and Hyderabad.
• The ECI launched the National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) on April 2015.
• However a Supreme Court order on August 2015 halted the programme.