Voter ID To Be Linked With Aadhaar, Says Poll Body. Congress Reacts

The Election Commission held a meeting today to finalise its decision to link Voter ID cards with Aadhaar. The commission's move, the Congress claimed, was a fallout of its complaints about a mismatch of electoral rolls in Maharashtra between the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.

The Congress has now warned that the Commission should ensure that the right to vote of a single eligible citizen not be denied and at the same time, there should be no breach of privacy of any citizen.

After the meeting between the UIDAI CEO, Home Secretary and Law Secretary and the Chief Election Commissioner, the EC said it would take action under Article 326 of the Representation of the People Act, and relevant Supreme Court judgments, for linking EPIC with Aadhaar.

The linking of Aadhar with electoral card will be voluntary. Already, 65 crore people have done so, the commission said.  

The union home ministry will work with the EC on citizenship issue in border districts to resolve the issue of identity. The Commission had asked the ministry to revert on how the issue of identity can be addressed and ensure genuine voters are allowed to vote. 

In 2018, the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutionality of the Aadhaar law but struck down the linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile connections that government had made mandatory. The court had accepted linking Aadhaar to bank account for availing government subsidies and welfare schemes.

Technical consultations between UIDAI and experts of EC will begin soon, the Commission said.

Under Article 326 of the Constitution, voting rights can only be given to a citizen of India, meaning a person born on Indian soil. Aadhaar only establishes the identity of a person through biometrics and their address. It does not guarantee citizenship.

To remove duplicate EPIC numbers, the Commission has set a deadline of three months.

After the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi lost the assembly election in Maharashtra, the Congress had alleged that there was an abnormal increase in new voters enrolled in just five months between the Maharashtra Lok Sabha and assembly Sabha elections. 

The party had implied that these were fake, duplicate or ghost voters. Fake or duplicate voters is a problem of one person having multiple voter-ids.

"The Election Commission has acknowledged this problem of 'one person many voter-ids' raised by the Congress party, which can be eliminated through de-duplication using Aadhaar," the Congress said in a statement.

Today the Election Commission of India has announced it will link Aadhaar with voter IDs.

The Congress and INDIA parties have been repeatedly raising issues of voter lists, including abnormally high additions, unexpected deletions and duplicate voter ID numbers.

While Aadhar... https://t.co/WR83vnC5IT

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 18, 2025

In a post on X, Congress's Rahul Gandhi said, "Now that the ECI has acknowledged the problem, I reiterate my earlier demand that it should also address the issue of additions and deletions, starting by publicly sharing the entire electoral photo rolls of the Maharashtra 2024 Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections".