Aadhaar-Voter Card Linking Will Be Voluntary, Technical Consultations To Begin Soon Says EC

The Election Commission on Tuesday said linkage of voter cards with Aadhaar would be done according to the prevailing law and the Supreme Court's directions and added technical consultations between UIDAI and its experts for the exercise would "begin soon".

The EC on Tuesday held a meeting with the Union home secretary, legislative secretary (in the law ministry), MeitY secretary and the UIDAI CEO on the issue of voter card-Aadhaar seeding.

While voting rights can only be granted to a citizen of India, according to Article 326 of the Constitution, Aadhaar only establishes a person's identity, the poll authority said in a statement.

"Therefore, it was decided that the linking of elector photo identity card (EPIC) with Aadhaar will be done only as per the provisions of Article 326 of the Constitution, sections 23(4), 23(5) and 23(6) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and in line with the Supreme Court judgment (of 2023)," it said.

Accordingly, technical consultations between UIDAI and the EC's technical experts "are to begin soon", it added.

The law allows voluntary seeding of voter rolls with the Aadhaar database.

The government has told Parliament that the Aadhaar-voter card seeding exercise was 'process driven' and no target or timelines had been set for the proposed linking.

Names of those who do not link their Aadhaar details with the voters' list will not be struck off the electoral rolls, the government has asserted.

Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, as amended by the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, provides for electoral registration officers to require an existing or prospective elector to provide Aadhaar for establishing identity on a voluntary basis.