In India, there are various documents and cards that are used in the country such as the Aadhaar card, PAN card, Ration card, and voter card or voter ID. If we discuss Aadhaar so, it plays an important role in the identification process. Aadhaar contains a random 12-digit that is considered as a unique identity number of an individual. The issuer of the Aadhaar is the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). It is the department that has the responsibility to provide the Aadhaar to the residents. The eligibility of Aadhaar is only for the residents of India. Many people have misunderstandings regarding Aadhaar and the citizenship certificate and concerning this matter, the UIDAI department had clarified that Aadhaar does not have to do anything with the citizenship document. The fees for the enrollment of Aadhaar is zero as the applicant will not have to pay any amount on the application process. Whereas, if we discuss the voter ID or card so, this document also plays an important role in vote casting in the elections.
Previously, the Government had made this mandatory to link Aadhaar with various other documents which include PAN, Ration card, and Voter IDs as well. Recently, a piece of news has been reported in New Dehli, that the Government of India is pondering the suggestion provided by the Election Commission about connecting the Voter IDs with the Aadhaar card of the residents. The Minister Of Law And Justice, Communications And Electronics & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad passed his statement to Lok Sabha by saying that The Election Commission of India (ECI) has suggested that the electoral roll be linked to the Aadhaar ecosystem in order to prevent multiple enrolments of the same individual in different locations. This of course requires drastic changes to the electoral laws. The government is taking into account the situation carefully.
Minister Shankar Prasad, answering further questions said that they had not received any confirmation message from the Supreme Court concerning the matter of linking Aadhaar with voter’s IDs. In an answer, the Minister said that the Government will take the responsibility to protect the data and will make sure that the information of the individual linked with the Voter IDs will not get misused as the Government will protect it. He further added in his statement that the ECI claims to have taken a number of steps to ensure the protection and safety of the electoral roll data platform. The electoral roll database system is not integrated into the Aadhaar ecosystem, and it is only used for authentication, maintaining a close separation between the two systems. These protections effectively discourage voter fraud and tampering with the voting system.
Linking the Aadhaar with the Voter IDs is a quite beneficial decision as it will become easier for the Government to take a complete record and track the peoples. It is the responsibility as well as the duty of every Indian resident to cast their vote on the respective Election Day.