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Global Perspective

Recent Electoral Reforms
Recently, the Law Ministry, after consultation
with the ECI has amended the Registration of
Electors Rules and Conduct of Election Rules,
भारत सरकार ार
भारत सरक
1961, to give the electoral reforms which include Government of India
Government of India
the linkage of EPIC and Aadhaar. Under ‘Targeted
Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits
and Services Act, 2016’, aka. Aadhaar Act, a
statutory institution was established called The
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
UIDAI was created to issue Unique Identification
numbers (UID), named “Aadhaar”, to all residents of
India. issues like migration, death, duplication, inaccuracy
Now the electoral rolls can be validated using and errors.
the Aadhaar data. It would aid the de-duplication Linking the Aadhaar with the EPIC can
and purification of the electoral rolls. Supreme essentially help during the addition of the new
Court’s Aadhaar judgment paras 375 and 376 refer voters after they attain the age of 18 years. It will
to the de-duplication of PAN numbers after Aadhaar ease the process of verification and hence more and
linking. It is expected that electoral rolls may more eligible voters can practice their democratic
have similar benefits. rights. It will also
The comprehensive ease the process of
program launched by The single (January 1) qualifying date every year registration for the poor
for fulfilling the minimum age requirement of 18
ECI in 2015 was the years to be enrolled for elections has now been migrants to shift their
National Electoral replaced with four qualifying dates (January 1, voting constituency.
Roll Purification April 1, July 1 and October 1). This will further attract
and Authentication better political attention
Programme (NERPAP). which would aid their
The prime objective was to achieve a total error- socio-cultural upliftment.
free and authenticated electoral roll. One of However, the linking of Aadhar is not mandatory
the objectives of the NERPAP was to link and for the electors. No person shall be denied the right
authenticate the EPIC (Electoral Photo Identity to vote in the absence of a Unique Identification
Card) data with the UIDAI’s Aadhaar data. Number. Also, the constitutional right to privacy
Electoral Rolls are prepared through diligent can also be not taken away by the citizens. Further,
efforts of the ECI with regular data updation. Booth the Hon’ble Supreme Court has ruled that Aadhaar
Level Officers (BLOs) under Electoral registration is not necessary to avail essential services from
officers (EROs) in the tahsils/talukas/blocks move the government. Considering the large benefits of
mountains to ensure error-free up-gradation of the interlinking it is expected that more and more voters
electoral data. This is largely done manually through would support EPIC-Aadhar linkage.
a door-to-door survey because of the limited
popularity of e-services in most parts of the country. Kshitiz Verma
Unfortunately, the process involves a lot of practical Consultant, SVEEP ECI

Creative by Esha Khan

October 2022 | VoICE International | 39