CEC Gyanesh Kumar calls for meeting to discuss voter ID, Aadhaar linking with home, legislative secretaries

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar has convened a meeting of Home Secretary, Legislative Department Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of UIDAI on Tuesday to discuss the issue of linking of voter identity cards with Aadhaar, sources said.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of allegations of irregularities in electoral rolls and identical numbers in multiple Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) levelled by the Opposition inside and outside Parliament. Questions were also raised about voters’ lists in Maharashtra and Haryana.

On March 11, Trinamool Congress in a memorandum to the Election Commission claimed that there have been “credible allegations” of Aadhaar cards being “cloned” to help in “fake voter registrations”. It also asked the EC how it would ensure that “cloning of Aadhaar numbers does not affect the EPIC and electoral registration of voters”.

Sources said the meeting would see Kumar discussing the issue with Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Legislative Department Secretary Rajiv Mani and UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar on March 18. At present, the law allows seeding of electoral rolls with Aadhaar database but on a voluntary basis only.

Responding to the CEC convening the meeting, Trinamool Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Sagarika Ghose said the EC has issued three statements in recent times on issues related to voter cards. “Now this meeting is just a face-saving measure. We will keep a hawk-eye vigil till the elections,” she said.

The EC had in February 2015 launched the National Electoral Rolls Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) in which Aadhaar was to be linked with EPIC in a bid to remove duplicate entries in voters’ lists.

However, the Supreme Court later ordered that Aadhaar could be used only for welfare schemes and PAN linking following which NERPAP was put on hold.

The government has said that Aadhaar-EPIC seeding exercise was “process driven” with no target or timelines, asserting that the names of those who do not link their Aadhaar details with the voters' list will not be struck off.

The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, which amended the Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, provides for the electoral registration officers to require the existing or prospective elector to provide the Aadhaar number for establishing identity on a voluntary basis.

Earlier this week, the EC invited political leaders for an “interaction” to further strengthen the processes at a “mutually convenient” date besides seeking suggestions from national and state parties to address “any unresolved” issues at various levels.

It had asked Chief Electoral Officers, District Electoral Officers and Electoral Registration Officers to hold meetings with parties regularly to resolve issues within the statutory framework.