Linking of voter identity cards with Aadhaar will be done according to the existing laws and in line with the Supreme Court’s (SC) directions. The Election Commission of India (ECI) will soon start technical consultations with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

This comes after the Chief Election Commission (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi, meeting with the Union Home Secretary, Legislative Secretary (in the Law Ministry), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary and the UIDAI CEO on the issue of voter identity card-Aadhaar seeding. The poll body meeting assumes significance in the view of the Opposition’s allegations of fudging of electoral rolls data.

In a statement on Tuesday, the ECI said, 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.

Notably, 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.

Earlier, the Supreme Court considered the ECI’s stand to deliberate on the demand for uploading polling booth-wise voter turnout data on its website and asked the petitioners to make representations before the poll panel in 10 days. A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan was hearing two PILs filed by Trinamool Congress(TMC) MP Mahua Moitra and NGO Association for Democratic Reforms in 2019, respectively. Senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the poll panel, said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar wanted to meet and discuss the grievance. “Here is a new chief election commissioner now. The petitioners can meet him and it may be addressed,” he said.

 The CJI then said, “In the meanwhile, the counsel for Election Commission states that the petitioners (the NGO and the MP) may file a representation with the Election Commission and the EC will give them a hearing and inform them in advance. Let the representation be made in 10 days.”

During the hearing, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, said there were huge discrepancies on the EVM count and the number of persons coming to cast vote at the polling stations. “How did at the end of the day polling of 10 become 50 next morning needs to be explained. There is a discrepancy in the final list published and the ones who visit the polling station,” argued senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Moitra. The court adjourned the hearing in the July 28 week. The PILs sought a direction to the poll panel to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of conclusion of polling in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

For the “first time in decades”, the EC also sought suggestions from all national and state parties on a variety of issues including purification of electoral rolls by April 30.

Amid attacks from opposition parties on the sanctity of electoral rolls, the EC has also resolved to settle within the next three months the issue of duplicate voter card number pending for nearly 25 years.

The EC has also for the first time convinced some political parties to train their field level workers including booth level agents, polling agents, counting agents and election agents regarding their important role in the electoral process.

Flagging cases of duplicate voter card numbers allocated to electors in different states, Opposition party TMC has alleged that the poll authority was fudging voters’ list to help the BJP. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi echoed similar sentiments in Lok Sabha recently. Describing duplicate card numbers as a “legacy issue”, the election commission has assured to settle the matter in the next three months. It has maintained that duplicate numbers not necessarily mean fake voters.