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Syncing Aadhaar with Voter IDs

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July 29, 2019

What is the issue?

  • The General Elections 2019 witnessed discrepancies in voter eligibility and rolls, and the resultant denial of voting rights of many.
  • The disenfranchisement of voters is likely due to four factors which are discussed below, calling for Aadhaar as a solution to resolve them.

What are the concerns with registration?

  • Issue - Several people are unable to register to vote.
  • The reasons for this range from not being aware of the registration methodology, to the process itself being inconvenient to not even knowing there is one.
  • Challenges - It is the responsibility of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to inform the eligible voters who have not registered yet.
  • The ECI does this via mass campaigns since it is not possible for it to exclusively identify unregistered adult citizens.
  • Currently, the easiest way to freshly apply to be registered as a voter is to fill out a Form 6 on the NVSP (National Voters’ Service Portal) or the ECI’s app.
  • However, this is an extremely cumbersome exercise and potentially an impediment to comprehensive voter registration efforts.
  • Way out - Aadhaar can significantly simplify the process, once the ECI has ascertained that a resident is eligible to vote.
  • This whole process could be replaced with a single step Aadhaar based e-KYC.

What went wrong with voter rolls?

  • Procedure - Several government functionaries have discretionary powers that empower them to remove names from voter lists.
  • Additionally, the ECI has the right to disqualify citizens from voting under certain conditions as per the Constitution.
  • The ECI maintains and it is indeed mandated to publish a list of people disqualified from voting in each state.
  • However, the reasons for their disqualifications are not included and likely not recorded either.
  • Concerns - There are people who have voted at a particular booth previously but have been omitted from the voter rolls.
  • In many cases, the ECI does not have the contact details (or updated ones) of voters to notify them before a deletion takes place.
  • The absence of contact information was due to the fact that up until recently, the ECI did not collect these details.
  • In cases where they have contact details, the changes in the same are not made by voters unless the Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) is their de facto ID.
  • Besides, the most disturbing factor is the political adventurism of parties (and politicians) and voters alike.
  • There have been cases reported of voters who are registered to vote in multiple booths and, thus, can vote multiple times.
  • Way out - During registration, Aadhaar holders could give consent to the ECI to have their contact details shared.
  • In that case, they could be pre-emptively notified about an impending deletion.
  • The illegality of private and political actors in regards with voters roll needs to be checked.
  • Here, Aadhaar’s anti-fraud and de-duplication features can be put to use.

What were the other problems that came up?

  • Details - Several people have been turned away from voting due to discrepancies between their details on the rolls and the ID documents they present for validation.
  • Generally, people who get married or have recently changed other demographic parameters might make the necessary changes to their Aadhaars and neglect other IDs.
  • In such cases, reliance on Aadhaar will mitigate the risks of exclusion that are a consequence of demographic data mismatches.
  • Relocation - The most easily addressable cause of disenfranchisement is relocation.
  • It is often the case that people who have made the requisite changes will feature both on the voter list of their new and previous residences.
  • Here too, it is far more likely for people to update Aadhaar rather than their EPIC.

What could be done?

  • As discussed, many of the exclusions discussed above can be remedied with Aadhaar.
  • It uniquely identifies every individual in the country through all of the same details as the EPIC.
  • Also, unlike EPIC, Aadhaar captures biometric data, which is useful in validating uniqueness.
  • Ironically, the EPIC does not guarantee a vote; if a name does not appear on the voter rolls, she will not be permitted to vote.
  • Even if a person’s name does appear on the voter rolls, the EPIC is not the only document that is accepted as proof of identity.
  • Therefore, the very existence of the EPIC is worth reconsidering today.
  • In this regard, the ECI publicly expressed its interest in seeding their databases with Aadhaar.
  • It also attempted a drive to voluntarily link Aadhaar to voter IDs but was halted by the Supreme Court in 2017.
  • There have been recent reports, however, suggesting that the ECI has been preparing to resume these activities.
  • Given that Aadhaar is the only universal, de-facto identification infrastructure in India today, the move could be taken further.

 

Source: Indian Express

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