Quite disappointing
Not must to link Aadhaar with voter list, EC tells Supreme Court
THE ELECTION Commission (EC) has told the Supreme Court that it is not mandatory to provide Aadhaar numbers for linking with the electoral roll, and it is considering issuing “appropriate clarificatory changes” in enrolment forms to reflect this.
Appearing for the EC, Senior Advocate Sukumar Pattjoshi and Advocate Amit Sharma told a three-judge Bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud that submission of Aadhaar number is not mandatory under Rule 26-B of the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules 2022.
Rule 26B, dealing with “special provision for providing Aadhaar number by existing electors”, states that “every person whose name is listed in the roll may intimate his Aadhaar number to the registration officer in Form 6B in accordance with sub-section (5) of Section 23 of the Act”.
The Bench was hearing a plea filed by G Niranjan, senior Congress leader from Telangana, who had urged the court to direct the Centre and the EC “to make amendments in the application forms (for) enrolment and updating the electoral rolls… on the basis of amended provisions/ rules notified by Union of India for the authentication of Aadhaar number with the electoral rolls on or before 1st April, 2023.”
He had said that the Centre, in a notification issued on June 17, 2002, notified April 1, 2023 “as the date on or before which every person whose name is included in the electoral roll may intimate his Aadhaar number in accordance with the said section”.
“Under the guise of authentication of electoral rolls, the respondents (Centre and EC) are forcing the voters to submit the Aadhaar number without providing them an option, which is against Articles 14, 21 of the Constitution… this will adversely affect the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21… Besides, there is a possibility of misusing the personal data of the voters who have submitted their Aadhaar numbers,” he said in the plea.
Niranjan said that he had asked the EC to make changes to the application forms, but the poll body had not considered his suggestions, and “merely replied… that submission of Aadhaar number is voluntary”.
Disposing of the plea, the SC, in its September 18 order, recorded Pattjoshi’s statement “that the submission of the Aadhaar number is not mandatory under Rule 26-B of the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules 2022 and hence the Election Commission is looking into issuing appropriate clarificatory changes in the forms introduced for that purpose”.
The poll body informed the Bench that “nearly 66.23 crore Aadhaar numbers have already been uploaded in the process of finalising electoral rolls”.
Express News Service – 2023-09-21 22:07