Poll panel changes its stance on Aadhaar, now wants to link it with voter ID: Indian Express

The Election Commission has filed an application in the Supreme Court, seeking mandatory seeding of the Aadhaar number with voter cards, The Indian Express reported on Sunday. It had earlier told the court that linking the number was voluntary.

The Election Commission said that it wanted to make the linking mandatory because the government has passed the Aadhaar Act. Besides, it will help prevent voter fraud, the panel said.

The Aadhaar Act was passed in March 2017, and makes Aadhaar linking mandatory for almost all essential services. However, the Supreme Court is currently hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar and will decide this week whether or not to extend the March 31 deadline to link Aadhaar with services.

The poll panel first started the process of linking Aadhaar with the Electors Photo Identity Cards, or EPIC, in February 2015. At the time, HS Brahma was the Chief Election Commissioner. The exercise was suspended later that year after the Supreme Court said Aadhaar should be used only for the Public Distribution System, and to distribute LPG and kerosene.

In July 2017, the Election Commission under Nasim Zaidi filed an application in the Supreme Court asking if it could resume linking Aadhaar and EPIC. In this application, the poll panel said linking was not mandatory, and that voters would not be denied any service if they did not have an Aadhaar number.

The same month, AK Joti succeeded Zaidi. This is when the poll panel revised it position to make the linking mandatory, the report said. While Joti refused to comment on the matter as he had retired, the current Election Commissioner, OP Rawat, confirmed the change to The Indian Express. Rawat added that registered voters who do not have Aadhaar cards will not be affected.

The Election Commission, however, is against using the Aadhaar card as the voter ID.