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The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday, March 18 said linkage of voter cards with Aadhaar would be done according to the prevailing law and the Supreme Court’s directions.
The officials added technical consultations between its experts and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for the exercise would “begin soon”. The EC held a meeting with the Union home secretary, legislative secretary (in the law ministry), MeitY secretary and the UIDAI CEO on the issue of voter card-Aadhaar seeding.
The government told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply in April 2023 that linking Aadhaar details with voter identity cards had not started and noted that the exercise was “process driven” and no target or timelines was set for the proposed exercise.
Not linking Aadhaar won’t affect voter list: Govt clarifies
Names of those who do not link their Aadhaar details with the voters’ list will not be struck off the electoral rolls, the government had asserted.
In a statement on Tuesday, the poll authority said that while voting rights could only be granted to a citizen of India, according to Article 326 of the Constitution, Aadhaar established a person’s identity.
“Therefore, it was decided that the linking of elector photo identity card (EPIC) with Aadhaar will be done only as per the provisions of Article 326 of the Constitution, sections 23(4), 23(5) and 23(6) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and in line with the Supreme Court judgment (of 2023),” it said.
Accordingly, technical consultations between UIDAI and the EC’s technical experts “are to begin soon”, it added.
The law allows voluntary seeding of voter rolls with the Aadhaar database.
Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, as amended by the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, provides for electoral registration officers to require an existing or prospective elector to provide Aadhaar for establishing identity on a voluntary basis.
(With inputs from PTI)
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