Preparations to link voter ID with Aadhaar, big meeting of EC on March 18; EPIC matter will also be discussed

The Election Commission has been accused of making errors in the voter list by the opposition and has now initiated the process of rectification. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has called the meeting of the UIDAI and senior officials of the Central Government on Tuesday for the purpose.

The key decision to clear the obstacles in the path of the voter list linked with Aadhaar is likely to be taken during the meeting. Gyanesh Kumar and the other two Election Commissioners, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Legislative Secretary Rajiv Mani, and the CEO of the UIDAI Bhuvnesh Kumar are likely to participate in the meeting.

The presence of Bhuvnesh Kumar here means that efforts should be made to link the voter roll with the Aadhaar database and remove the legal hurdles confronting it.

It is worth noting that after becoming the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar assured to completely remove the discrepancy in the voter list within three months. This meeting has been called for this only.

It is worth noting that the Congress and other opposition parties, which had accused the government of tampering with EVMs till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, have made a big issue of the discrepancy in the voter list after the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi cited the addition of 39 lakh new voters in Maharashtra between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2024 as the reason for the defeat of the Maha Aghadi alliance and sought an answer from the Election Commission. The Election Commission has given clarification on this issue, but the attack of Congress continues.

At the same time, Aam Aadmi Party is also blaming irregularities in the voter list for its defeat in Delhi. The Chief Minister of West Bengal raised the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers in the voter list and termed it a conspiracy by the Central Government and the Election Commission to influence the state assembly elections to be held next year.

Amidst the increasing attacks of the opposition on irregularities in the voter list, the Election Commission seems to be the only accurate solution to link it with the voter list. But the biggest hurdle in this is legal.

In fact, in 2015, the Election Commission started the work of linking the voter list with the Aadhaar database and in three months, 30 crore voter ID cards were linked to Aadhaar. But in view of the petition challenging the legality of Aadhaar, the Supreme Court had put a stay on it.

In its decision in 2018, the Supreme Court approved the legality of Aadhaar. But allowed its voluntary use only. To remove other legal hurdles in this path, the central government cleared the way by amending the Representation of the People Act and the Election Act in 2022. Which was also upheld by the Supreme Court.

After this, the work of voluntarily linking voter ID cards with Aadhaar is going on and the identity cards of about 66 crore voters have been linked to Aadhaar. But about 33 crore voters are yet to be added and this is the root of the controversy.

The Election Commission had recently indicated to link the voter list with Aadhaar to make it foolproof and to approach the Supreme Court for this. In Tuesday's meeting, a decision is expected on the necessary steps to remove these legal hurdles.