Election Commission examining proposal to link electoral data with Aadhaar: Law Ministry

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad recently revealed that the Election Commission of India is considering a proposal to enable linking of electoral data with Aadhaar..The rationale behind the move would be to ensure preparation of error free electoral roll and to prevent duplication of entries, Prasad revealed..The revelation was made in the Lok Sabha, in response to questions asked by BJP MP Sudhir Gupta. The questions put before the Union Law Minister were:.(a) whether Election Commission of India has given any suggestion to the Government to connect Aadhaar Card with Election Card;(b) if so, the details thereof along with the aims and objectives thereto; (c) the response of the Union Government in this regard along with the expenditure involved therein;(d) whether the Government has considered all the aspects like preserving the personal information and data theft on the issue of connecting Aadhaar with Voter Card;(e) if so, the details thereof and the time by which the Election Card is likely to be connected with Aadhaar Card; and(f) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government to ensure the authenticity of voters and to avoid repetition?.Prasad's reply states:."In order to ensure preparation of error free electoral roll and to prevent duplication of entries, a proposal to amend Representation of the People Act, 1951 to enable linking of electoral data with Aadhar system has been received from the Election Commission. The matter is under examination."Ravi Shankar Prasad, in reply to a question asked in the Lok Sabha.In December last year, the Delhi High Court had refused to pass a direction to the Central government to link social media accounts with Aadhaar, PAN, voter ID etc, in order to weed out fake, duplicate and ghost accounts.The plea was filed by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. It was his case that such linking would help curb the menace of fake news, especially during elections.