ECI pushes for Aadhaar-Voter ID link to tackle fake entries, talks with UIDAI soon

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced plans to link Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers with Aadhaar to eliminate duplicate voter IDs. The decision was made during a high-level meeting on Tuesday, attended by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, along with senior officials from the Home Ministry, Law Ministry, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

According to the ECI, the linkage process will adhere to Article 326 of the Constitution and relevant sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The Commission emphasized that Aadhaar will only serve as proof of identity and not citizenship. "While, as per Article 326 of the Constitution of India, voting rights can only be given to a citizen of India; an Aadhaar card only establishes the identity of a person," the ECI stated. Technical consultations with UIDAI will begin soon to finalize the process.

The move follows concerns over duplicate voter IDs in several states, with ECI confirming that the issue is under review. An official stated that preliminary discussions focused on the benefits of linking Aadhaar with EPIC, and UIDAI presented a plan for a phased authentication process. In the first phase, Aadhaar data will be authenticated and matched with EPIC numbers to rectify errors before implementation. The Commission also confirmed that 662.3 million Aadhaar numbers had been uploaded in the electoral roll finalization process as of September 2023.

Opposition parties, including Congress and Trinamool Congress, have raised concerns about voter list deletions and alleged irregularities in voter registration. Following these concerns, the ECI has decided to conduct nationwide consultations with electoral officers before March 31, 2025. Additionally, all recognized national and state political parties have been invited to submit suggestions by April 30, 2025, regarding the proposed linkage.

The Congress has welcomed the move, stating that it acknowledges their concerns over voter list discrepancies. "Fake or duplicate voters is a problem of one person having multiple voter-IDs. The Election Commission has acknowledged this problem of ‘one person many voter-IDs’ raised by the Congress party, which can be eliminated through de-duplication using Aadhaar," the party stated. However, it emphasized that no citizen should be denied voting rights due to Aadhaar linkage.

The Aadhaar-EPIC linkage was first introduced under the National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) in 2015, during which around 300 million voter IDs were linked within three months. However, the Supreme Court halted the process in August 2015, restricting the mandatory use of Aadhaar to welfare schemes. The ECI now asserts that the current initiative will be voluntary, in compliance with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling, and will include safeguards to protect voter rights and data security.