The move will help to clean up bogus and duplicate entries and pave the way for giving “remote” voting rights to migrant voters.
The Election Commission (EC) may soon be allowed to collect and link Aadhaar details with voters' list. The Centre has moved to legally empower the EC via an amendment to the Aadhaar Act, The Times of India reported.
The move will help to clean up bogus and duplicate entries and pave the way for “remote” voting rights to migrant voters, it said.
In a letter to the Law Ministry, the commission reportedly proposed that provisions of the Representation of the People Act be amended to allow EC to seek Aadhaar numbers of those applying to be voters and those who are already part of the electoral rolls.
According to the report, the ministry is working on a note to be put up before the Union Cabinet for the decision. The ministry conveyed this to the EC at a meeting on February 18 to discuss electoral reforms.
The government was favourably inclined towards linking of voters list with Aadhaar numbers and a Cabinet note would be moved soon to amend the Aadhaar Act, said the report quoting EC sources.
In the meeting between top EC functionaries and law secretary G Narayan Raju, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora also stressed on the need for the ministry to fast-track implementation of reforms proposed by the poll panel as far back as 2004-05 as well as hold regular discussions with it to review progress.
On this, Raju assured the EC that the ministry was examining the 40 electoral reforms proposed by the poll panel and that each was at a different stage of discussion, said the report.
In 2015, the EC had taken up linking of voter card and Aadhaar number as part of its National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme. Around 32 crore Aadhaar numbers were collected when the EC stopped the programme in view of the Supreme Court’s judgment restricting the use of Aadhaar.
However, following SC judgement in 2019 allowing the mandatory collection of Aadhaar with a due amendment in the Aadhaar Act, the EC wrote to the law ministry in August seeking a suitable amendment to enable linking of EPIC with UID.
The law ministry had in-principle agreed and a Cabinet note is being prepared, added the report.Exclusive offer: Use code "BUDGET2020" and get Moneycontrol Pro's Subscription for as little as Rs 333/- for the first year.
