India is all set to be the first nation in the world to avoid duplication and to have biometric data in the voter IDs after linking these to Aadhaar card.
According to the Chief Election Commission (CEC) HS Brahma, once Aadhaar number is listed in the electoral rolls, the voters can easily change their address online as Aadhaar will be considered as a basic identity, once Aadhaar is linked to the voter ID card.
Brahma added at a conference based on electoral reforms, “When we can seed the Aadhaar number on EPIC card, it will ensure that there is no duplicate number. We can definitely do it and India will be the only nation in the world where there will be absolute biometric data of the voters. There will be no duplicate voters or fraud.”
When asked about the order of Supreme Court which added that Aadhaar is not mandatory to avail public services, he said millions of voters are applying for Aadhaar cards on daily basis. So, we don’t need to make it compulsory but our voters want it.
He requested all the citizens of the nation to avoid duplicate names in their voter list and said that it is a punishable offence for around one year. Once the Aadhaar number is added to the electoral rolls, the voters can easily change their address online as Aadhaar will serve as the basic identity.
Then, it will remove all the risks of duplicacy in the voting list and harassment to the voters for changing their address. According to him, over 85 Cr. Indians have got their Aadhaar numbers so far. He added, “We are hoping that the rest of 25 to 30 Cr. Aadhaar cards would be done soon.” The Aadhaar figure in West Bengal is around 55% so far.
