Aadhaar sharing for voters to remain voluntary; no legal changes planned

As the Election Commission works to purify electoral rolls of duplicate entries, sources in the government asserted on Tuesday that Aadhaar sharing by voters on a voluntary basis as prescribed in the law will remain unaltered.

They underlined that sharing Aadhaar details with poll authorities is voluntary under the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 and it will continue to remain so.

The sources also noted that there is no plan to tweak the law or related rules in this regard.

They were responding to questions on whether there was a proposal to make Aadhaar sharing compulsory as also whether voters who don't share details will have to explain before poll authorities the reasons for not giving out details.

They said the ground rules will remain unaltered and no provision is proposed to be added as of now.

Amid a debate on the purity of electoral rolls, the Election Commission had said last month that the regular updating process of the voter list will be strengthened in close coordination with the birth and death registration authorities.

Technical consultations between the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and experts of the EC will begin soon on voter list-Aadhaar linkage, it had said, adding though an elector can only vote in the assigned polling booth and nowhere else, the poll body has resolved to remove duplicates countrywide and end a decades-long issue within three months.

"Regular updation of the voter list shall be strengthened in close coordination with the birth and death registration authorities," the EC had said.

According to the prevailing law, no entries in the electoral roll shall be deleted for inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed.