A move that endangers the right to vote, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• Linking Aadhaar with voter ID may violate the right to vote, risking disenfranchisement due to errors and coercion.

• The ECI’s claim of voluntary linkage is contested; Form 6B offers no real choice, creating indirect compulsion.

• Supreme Court and High Courts have previously ruled that Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship.

• Concerns include misuse of DBT data, exclusion of voters, and violation of privacy principles under the Puttaswamy judgment.

• Past failures in similar linkage attempts (Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, 2015) led to mass voter deletions.

Background/Context

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) is pushing for Aadhaar–Voter ID linkage under the pretext of eliminating bogus voters and ensuring electoral integrity.

• This policy follows amendments made under Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act and recent reforms enabling form 6B, where voters must either submit Aadhaar or provide reasons for not doing so.

Key Developments

• By September 2023, over 66 crore Aadhaar numbers had been seeded into the electoral rolls.

• Legal experts argue this amounts to coerced consent and violates constitutional principles of free, fair, and universal suffrage.

• Multiple High Courts and past SC rulings (e.g., Lal Babu Hussein, Justice K.S. Puttaswamy) emphasised that Aadhaar is not citizenship proof and cannot be used for voter eligibility.

• The CAG in 2022 flagged Aadhaar-related duplication and deletion errors, affecting the credibility of electoral rolls.

Strategic/Policy/Legal/Economic Implications

• Potential exclusion of the poor, elderly, disabled, and mobile populations due to non-availability or mismatch of Aadhaar data.

• Risks violating the right to vote, a fundamental democratic guarantee under the Constitution of India.

• Linking Aadhaar to voter rolls introduces constitutional conflicts regarding data protection, identity validation, and statutory limits of UIDAI.

• Electoral fraud claims lack substantive data to justify this policy and may mask political motivations.

India's Stand or Way Forward

• Election reforms should prioritise inclusion and data privacy, not surveillance and compulsion.

• Instead of pushing Aadhaar linkage, focus should be on:

  • Strengthening door-to-door verification

  • Ensuring data protection frameworks

  • Using non-invasive methods for improving electoral rolls

  • India must uphold the sanctity of voter data through statutory safeguards and avoid executive overreach.

Challenges Ahead

• Ambiguity in legal frameworks governing Aadhaar usage.

• Lack of consent and transparency in data collection and usage.

• Public trust deficit due to past experiences of voter deletions and exclusion.

• Potential misuse of Aadhaar-linked rolls for manipulated voter targeting or political profiling.

Mains Mock Question:

Linking Aadhaar with voter identity raises critical concerns regarding the right to vote and data privacy. Critically examine the implications of such a move in the context of India’s democratic and constitutional framework.