The Centre has moved the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) with a proposal to allow the Election Commission (EC) to use Aadhaar for registering new voters. Aadhaar verification can be used for faster delivery of certain other services as well, such as change of address, the Law Ministry has reportedly suggested.
Downloading Electronic Elector’s Photo Identity Cards (e-EPICs) or Voter Slips can be allowed under Rule 3 of Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation and Knowledge) Rules, the Ministry said.
The Rules were notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on 5 August 2020 and facilitate Aadhaar authentication, “in the interest of good governance, preventing leakage of public funds, by facilitating better living for the citizens.”.
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Reportedly, the move has been initiated at the behest of the Election Commission, and the proposed verification exercise shall be voluntary. To use Aadhaar for these purposes, the interested individual shall have to submit a proposal with the central government, which shall then be forwarded to UIDAI.
The Election Commission had written to the Law Secretary in August 2019, proposing amendments to the Representation of the People Act and the Aadhaar Act to allow the collection and use of Aadhaar data for “cleaning” voter lists. Aadhaar-seeding of voter cards will help weed out duplicate entries and bogus voters, the Election Commission had argued.
However, the seeding of voter cards with Aadhaar could begin without any amendments to the Representation of the People Act and the Aadhaar Act, provided the UIDAI and the central government agree to take this forward.
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The Election Commission had initiated the exercise of linking Aadhaar with e-EPICs in February 2015, under Chief Election Commissioner, H S Brahma. The exercise was, however, suspended in August of the same year after the Supreme Court (SC) restricted the use of Aadhaar to the Public Distribution System (PDS), and the distribution of LPG and kerosene.
