NEW DELHI: Amid a controversy over voter lists, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar has called a high-level meeting on Tuesday to discuss the linking of the voter identity card with the Aadhaar card.According to sources, the CEC will discuss the matter with Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Legislative Department Secretary Rajiv Mani and UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar on March 18.This is at variance with the EC’s earlier position. In September 2023, the EC told the Supreme Court that the submission of Aadhaar number is not mandatory under Rule 26-B of the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules 2022.The EC further said that it is not mandatory to provide Aadhaar numbers for linking with the electoral roll, and it is considering issuing ‘appropriate clarificatory changes’ in enrolment forms to reflect this.In 2022, the then Union law minister Kiren Rijiju told the Lok Sabha that linking Aadhaar with the Voter ID is voluntary, adding electors without an Aadhaar number could ‘provide other optional documents as provided in the Form 6B’.According to him, the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, allows Electoral Registration Officers to require the voter to provide their Aadhaar number for identification. However, this is voluntary, he said.
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