Election Commission to begin linking Voter ID card with Aadhaar; technical consultations with UIDAI experts soon

The Election Commission of India said on Tuesday that it is getting ready to link Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC), or voter IDs, with the Aadhaar numbers of those who have provided them voluntarily. 

The poll panel said it will soon initiate technical consultations regarding the exercise with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). 

While, as per Article 326 of the Indian Constitution, voting rights can only be given to Indian citizens, the Aadhaar card only establishes a person's identity, the election commission said on Tuesday.

The poll panel's move comes at a time when some opposition parties had raised concerns over the integrity of electoral rolls. Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has raised the issue of ‘duplicate’ EPIC numbers.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commissioners, Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi had a meeting with the Union Home Secretary, Secretary Legislative Department, Secretary The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and CEO, UIDAI and technical experts of the ECI in Nirvachan Sadan, New Delhi  on Tuesday.

“Therefore, it was decided that the linking of EPIC with Aadhaar will be done only as per the provisions of Article 326 of the constitution, Section 23(4), 23(5) and 23(6) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and in line with the Supreme Court judgement in WP(civil) No. 177/2023. Accordingly, technical consultations between UIDAI and the technical experts of ECI are to begin soon,” the poll panel said in a press communique after the meeting.

The 2021 amendment to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, enabled Aadhaar linking with EPICs, and the poll panel began collecting Aadhaar numbers from electors on a voluntary basis. However, the poll panel has yet to link the two databases. The exercise was meant to aid in detecting duplicate voter ID registrations. However, linking Aadhaar was not mandatory.

Consultation with UIDAI

“Accordingly, technical consultations between UIDAI and the technical experts of ECI are to begin soon,” said the ECI statement.

The EC had in September 2023 told the Supreme Court that 66.23 crore voters have voluntarily submitted their Aadhaar numbers. India has about 99.2 crore voters at present.

After TMC's concern, the Election Commission acknowledged that some state chief electoral officers had used the wrong alphanumeric series while issuing EPIC numbers. However, the panel explained that while some electors may share the same EPIC number, their demographic details, Assembly Constituency, and polling booth information differ.

Recently, the poll panel said it would issue new EPIC numbers to electors with duplicate numbers within three months.