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The Hindu
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Reforms are necessary to bolster electoral integrity
The Election Commission's attempts to strength the credibility of India's democratic process by means of an extensive revision of the electoral rolls has unfortunately devolved into yet another partisan fight on the political stage. As the EC has embarked on a special intensive revision (SIR) of voter lists beginning in Bihar as the State heads to the polls in a few months, Opposition parties tried to march to the commission's office in New Delhi on August 11 in protest. These critics, quick to push back against proposed schemes to enhance the accuracy and credibility of the electoral rolls, are also quick to point to inaccuracies and duplicates within the list and brand it as electoral fraud and 'vote chori (theft)'. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, held a press conference on August 7 to deliver a presentation accusing the EC of voter fraud in Karnataka in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Similar allegations have been made with respect to the Maharashtra Assembly election also. The EC is constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections. This is no easy task to administer in the largest democracy in the world with nearly one billion eligible voters. India's electoral process has been reformed and improved drastically since its first elections in 1951-52. Further reforms are no doubt necessary in bolstering electoral integrity. As the EC itself announced, a number of factors make intensive revision of electoral rolls necessary, including India's frequent inter- and intra-State migration, new voters, and the non-reporting of deaths. But to attack both the commission's past performance and its future proposals for reform as a means of scoring political points is deeply unhelpful, adding only to toxic political noise. Aadhaar link The EC's plans to strengthen India's electoral systems, including revising the rolls and linking Aadhaar to the elector photo ID card (EPIC), are neither new nor politically motivated. For over a decade, the commission has consistently advocated for electronic identification systems as a tool to eliminate two of the most persistent challenges facing the country's electoral process: duplicate entries and voter impersonation. As early as 2015, the EC launched the National Electoral Rolls Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) to identify and remove duplicate entries. Linking EPIC and Aadhaar was part of this technical approach. Over four years, the EC repeatedly submitted technical and legal proposals to government advocating for biometric authentication to improve roll accuracy. The EC's announcement in March this year that it had set the ball rolling for linking Aadhaar with EPIC, therefore, has deep roots. 'One citizen, one vote' is the foundation of India's democracy. The Aadhaar-EPIC linkage will be key in protecting this, from removing duplicate voters to preventing impersonation on polling day. But individual data privacy is a concern. The EC and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) must act to ensure protection of personal data, safeguarding the secure management and protection of Aadhaar-linked voter data. The protests of August 11 reveal fundamental inconsistencies in the Opposition's positioning. Parties simultaneously highlight alleged instances of voter fraud in Karnataka, while opposing measures being rolled out in Bihar that could address documented vulnerabilities. This approach serves neither democratic integrity nor voter interests. These critical voices should, in fact, be applauding the efforts of the EC and its SIR of voter lists. The 'evidence' of 2024 electoral fraud as posited by Opposition figures — from duplicate names to multiple voters in single addresses and invalid addresses — will be weeded out by this process. The Aadhaar-EPIC linkage will further cement the accuracy and credibility of the voter rolls. Bipartisan interest Electoral integrity transcends partisan interests. When documented vulnerabilities persist while potentially comprehensive solutions face resistance that is driven by petty politics, democracy suffers. The continuation of India's long tradition of free and fair elections is dependent on an accurate electoral roll — something that requires constant and intensive revision, and which can only be administered by the EC. It will not be an easy task. All parties, regardless of politics, have a duty to work collaboratively to find technically sound solutions that safeguard both the rights of citizens and Indian democracy. For a challenge such as this, serious debate is needed, not political posturing. Ritesh Pandey belongs to the BJP and is a former MP for Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh; views expressed are personal
The Hindu
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Aadhaar has been actively used for voter enrolment in earlier elections
Even as the Supreme Court on Thursday (July 10, 2025) asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to include Aadhaar in the list of documents for enrolment during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, a glance through the instructions issued by the poll panel for the SIR shows Aadhaar has been mentioned only once. Also read: Bihar voter list row hearing in Supreme Court | highlights The sample enumeration form given with the SIR instructions on June 24 gives a column for the voter to give his or her Aadhaar number, but it is optional. However, Aadhaar has been actively used for voter enrolment in earlier elections. The Manual on Electoral Rolls issued in March 2023 gives an elector the option of furnishing Aadhaar as both a proof of age and ordinary residence, two prerequisites for registration as a voter. Aadhaar linking with voter ID has in fact been looked at as a practical solution for tackling duplicate voters. Pilot project It was in February 2015, that the ECI first launched a pilot project to study the linking of Aadhaar with electoral rolls called the National Electoral Rolls Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP). It had linked more than 300 million voters in a span of three months. The Supreme Court halted this project through an interim order issued in August of that year on the issue of Right to Privacy, which is guaranteed under the Constitution, and created a three-prong test to assess whether a law violates this right. Following this order, the NERPAP exercise was discontinued. After the Supreme Court's final order in Puttaswamy case in September 2018, that upheld the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act, the ECI sought amendments to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RP Act, 1950). The Parliament amended the RP Act, 1950 and The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 in December 2021 to enable the linking of Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) with Aadhaar. Editorial | Careful curation: On Bihar's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls Following this, the ECI had started collecting the Aadhaar number of existing and prospective voters on a voluntary basis from August 1, 2022 across the country. In 2023, the poll body informed the Supreme Court that it has already uploaded nearly 66.23 crore Aadhaar cards in the process of finalising the electoral rolls. On Thursday (July 10, 2025), the ECI, however, urged the apex court to observe in its order that it would be left to the 'discretion' of the poll body to accept Aadhaar, voter ID or ration cards as documentary proof for voter registration. The argument against consideration of Aadhaar by the ECI is that Article 326 of the Constitution says 'every person who is a citizen of India and who is not less than 18 years of age on such date as may be fixed' is eligible to vote and Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship, sources said. It is the consideration of this 'citizenship' factor which has made the Opposition brand the entire SIR exercise as 'NRC through backdoor.'
