Linking of Aadhaar Card to Voter ID - the merits and the concerns

There are several tangible benefits in linking Aadhar to voter ID - from weeding out bogus voters to allowing people to vote while on the move. However, several concerns related to data privacy remain unanswered.

By Satya Muley

The Electoral Laws (Reform) Bill 2021 which was passed in the winter session mandates the linking of Aadhaar Card with Voter ID of the voter. Thankfully as of now, the linking of an Aadhaar card to Voter ID is voluntary, and as per the provisions of the bill, no one shall be restricted from entering their names in electoral rolls if they do not have an Aadhaar card. 

The procedure of linking Aadhaar card to Voter ID is very simple and can be done via any of the multiple methods using the internet, SMS, phone call, or by visiting a booth-level officer.  But what entails is a difficult set of questions that need to be evaluated carefully as the changes to the Electoral Laws are bound to have a serious impact on how the Indian Democracy functions. 

Merits and  Demerits of linking Aadhar to Voter ID

Indian democracy faces a huge problem of bogus voting and duplicate entries in electoral rolls. It is said that a bogus ID can be made for as less as Rs 500, which can enable a person to cast their vote. According to a survey, more than 20,000 doubtful voters have been identified in each of several constituencies across the country including prominent ones like Delhi. Many people are found to be with registration in electoral rolls in multiple constituencies or even several states. The Election Commission finds it difficult to delete such entries as they are in the system by design. Many politicians also indulge in the illegal act of making duplicate voter identity cards in the name of voters who have moved out of their constituencies, as these are not digital cards and are easy to fake.

With thin margins between the winner and losers in several constituencies across the country, the weeding out of duplicate entries and curbing bogus voting no doubt will have a radical impact not just on the turnout figures but also on the results which are supposed to be totally fair. 

The Union Government has claimed that the move will help in cleaning up the electoral rolls by weeding out duplicate entries, bogus voters and making the electoral process more credible. 

The changes in the Election Laws will allow the Electoral Registration Officers to seek Aadhaar of individuals who wish to register as voters and from individuals who are already registered as voters to establish the identity of the voter to identify, eliminate and avoid duplicate entries. 

Concerns

Ironically, the bill was passed without much debate in both the houses and neither did it involve sufficient public scrutiny through media or other forums.  It would have helped if the Union Government had gone further and addressed the genuine concerns of the stakeholders. The key points such as personal data privacy still remain unanswered.

When it comes to personal data privacy based on the Puttaswamy Judgement (Aadhaar Card judgment), which laid down principles about the right to privacy, the State must have a legitimate aim in enacting a law, or for implementing an action, which is concerned with personal data of the citizens. In the instant topic, although the government appears to have a legitimate aim, the law must also pass the ‘proportionality test’. 

The Election Commission (EC) must come out with the data on the extent of bogus voting and duplicate entries to legitimize its claims and not just bank upon vague statements. Thereafter to satisfy the proportionality test, the EC must prove that other options were tried but linking Aadhaar to Voter ID is the only feasible solution available. This way the EC can claim that a certain amount of infringement of personal data privacy should be acceptable as it is proportional to the gains made in terms of strengthening the electoral processes. 

The EC so far has not issued any clarification on the above points but on the contrary, the privacy-related concerns from various quarters are increasing. 

Voter profiling and secret ballot

By Linking Aadhaar with voter id also appears to be enabling voter-profiling based on age, location, religion, etc. With the existing inadequacy of data protection laws, this will also mean that the party in power may be able to access, misuse the data and manipulate the results. Voter profiling will also lead to possibilities of data weaponization which in turn shall mean disaster for democratic processes. 

Selective and Erroneous disenfranchisement 

Earlier too around 2015, there was an attempt to link Aadhar to Voter id under the National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP). Later it was found that during Telangana Elections in 2018, almost 30 lakh voters were deregistered based on Aadhaar data by the EC using a software. Such a process denied several genuine voters, who got de-registered, an opportunity to authenticate themselves and continue to remain as valid voters on the electoral rolls. 

Several discrepancies and errors are also seen to be widespread across various government schemes linked with Aadhaar. There have been allegations of selective disenfranchisement of a certain class of voters who are opposers to a particular political ideology. Such serious concerns warrant proper and justifiable redressal without which there will be strong resistance to the proposed move. 

In the end...

There are other tangible benefits in linking Aadhar to voter ID, such as a voter being able to vote from different locations across the country or abroad, even while they are travelling, which also is a positive step towards digital and remote voting process. But while linking Aadhar to other government IDs or bank accounts has proved to be a facilitator for government welfare schemes, the concerns related to data privacy remain unanswered. 

On one side, due to various issues and controversies India is still witnessing opposition to Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), and on the other side countries like the USA, Austria, France, Estonia, and Switzerland are evaluating mechanisms of remote e-voting to enable their offshore citizens to vote and participate in electoral processes. India still appears to be far from such a scenario in the absence of robust data privacy laws.

The Indian Government may begin by providing control, rights, and options to the citizens to define the usage of their personal data by government agencies, enable prior consent mechanism in context to all linked ids and define robust policies which will use the personal data precisely in proportion to the welfare need of the population. 

(The author is an advocate of the Bombay High Court. The views expressed are his own and do not reflect the opinion of Zee News)