Elections and Aadhar Cards

With elections due in Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the first half of the next year, the Election Commission has started the annual revision of electoral rolls throughout the country. One of the major challenges of the EC is to have a clean electoral roll with full enrolment. Relentless Urbanization, inter-city and intra-city movements are major roadblocks to having an accurate and updated electoral roll in urban areas.
Duplication of names on electoral rolls is another problem which the EC has to face and before the Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) were made mandatory for voting, bogus voting was prevalent in various parts of India. To curb this menace of bogus voting, the Electoral Photo Identity Cards were introduced. This proved to be a very important step and reduced bogus voting substantially.
But the problem of duplication of names on electoral rolls still persists. Although the EPIC assigns a unique number to each person, there is no way to prevent a person from issuing a second one if he/she does not voluntarily disclose information and there is no reliable reference against which checking can be done. The only option left is matching of photos which is a very tedious and time consuming affair. This problem can be solved with the help of Aadhar Cards.

• Duplication of Aadhar Cards is near impossible as they have reliable backing by the way of fingerprints and iris scans for identification. Election officials just need the Aadhar number and check for its authenticity through the UIDAI (Unique identification Authority of India) website.
• With the help of Aadhar Card, it is possible to enrol a person in a particular polling station/constituency and remove his name from other polling stations/constituencies, thus avoiding duplication and also making voter enrolment simpler.
• Unlike EPICs, Aadhar Cards can be issued to minors also, they can automatically be included in the electoral rolls as they turn 18. Updating of electoral rolls will become much more easier.
• Aadhar Cards may prove to be very important in the process of e-voting, if it is embarked upon in the near future.

Just as the EPICs helped in tackling the menace of impersonation in booths, Aadhar Cards can be the answer to duplication as well as efficient and accurate update of electoral rolls. The EPICs can be slowly phased out to make way for Aadhar Cards which will also save cost. A recent Supreme Court order has stated that the Aadhar Card will be used only for Public Distribution System (PDS) and kerosene and cooking gas subsidies. The Election Commission must move the Supreme Courts to allow Aadhar number in the electoral rolls to ensure smooth functioning of elections in the country.