The Madras High Court on Friday issued a notice to the Unique Identification Authority of India and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre on a petition seeking to link Aadhaar with electoral rolls and voter identification cards, The Times of India reported.
Justice PT Asha said the responses have to be filed within two weeks and scheduled the next hearing on October 29.
ML Ravi, the president of an outfit called the Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi, filed the public interest litigation saying such a move would reduce electoral malpractices. He told the court that the poll panel’s manual collection of data and its collaboration with political parties to compile electoral roll were flawed.
The Election Commission of India’s legal counsel, Nirajan Rajagopalan, said the poll panel has no objection to the recommendation but it has to consider the Supreme Court’s latest verdict on the biometric identification system.
In 2015, the Election Commission announced it would launch the Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Drive to reduce the number of bogus voters.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!