CEC Convenes High-Level Meeting to Discuss Linking Voter ID with Aadhaar
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar has scheduled a high-level meeting on March 18 to discuss the integration of Voter ID cards with Aadhaar numbers. The meeting will involve key officials, including Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Legislative Department Secretary Rajiv Mani, and UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar.
This initiative aims to eliminate duplicate and bogus voters from electoral rolls by leveraging Aadhaar’s biometric authentication capabilities. While the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, permits electoral registration officers to request Aadhaar numbers for voter identification, the linkage remains voluntary.
The timing of this meeting is significant, as opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress (TMC), have raised concerns about voter fraud and alleged manipulation involving duplicate Voter IDs. The TMC has criticized the Election Commission’s actions as “face-saving measures” and emphasized the need for vigilance in upcoming elections.
The Election Commission has acknowledged issues of duplicate Voter ID numbers across different states, attributing them to legacy problems. The Commission has committed to resolving these discrepancies within three months, asserting that duplicate numbers do not necessarily indicate the presence of fake voters.
The proposed linkage of Aadhaar with Voter ID cards is part of the National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP), launched in 2015 to create an error-free voter identification system by removing duplications. However, the programme faced a temporary halt in August 2015 following a Supreme Court order.
