Aadhaar-voter ID linking

Topic: Electoral Reforms: Money, Criminalisation and Simultaneous Elections · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Aadhaar–voter ID linking means connecting a voter's EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card, the voter ID) and roll entry with their Aadhaar number. The aim is to find duplicate and fake entries in the electoral roll. The Election Laws (Amendment) Act 2021 allows it, and giving Aadhaar is voluntary [3].

It matters because it pulls two goals against each other. A clean roll stops one person from voting twice. But wrong deletions and misuse of personal data could take away a genuine citizen's right to vote.

Explanation

How it works

• Electoral roll: the official list of people who may vote in a constituency. A person can vote only if their name is on it.
• Electoral Registration Officer (ERO): the official who keeps the roll for a constituency.
• Under s.23(4)-(6) of the RPA 1950:
• The ERO may ask a new voter or an existing voter for their Aadhaar number to establish identity [2].
• Existing voters give their Aadhaar number on Form 6B.
• The Aadhaar data is then matched against the roll to find:
  • the same person enrolled in more than one place;
  • fake entries.

Conditions and limits

• Voluntary: no voter has to give Aadhaar [3].
• "Sufficient cause" protection:
• A person may be unable to give Aadhaar "for sufficient cause".
• If so, their application cannot be refused and their name cannot be deleted for that reason [2].

• They may show other documents that the Central Government prescribes instead [2].

• Identity, not citizenship:

• Aadhaar shows who a person is. It does not show that the person is a citizen [1].
• Residents who are not citizens can also get Aadhaar.

• So linking alone cannot remove non-citizens from the roll.

• Proportionality test (from K.S. Puttaswamy, 2018): any state action that limits privacy is valid only if it:

• has a legitimate aim;
• is suitable to reach that aim;
• is the least intrusive way to reach it;
• fairly balances the gain against the harm to rights.

Concerns

• Privacy and profiling
• Voter data could be joined with Aadhaar-linked welfare or bank data.

• Someone could then build a detailed profile of each voter.

• Wrong deletions

• Software can match records wrongly.

• Genuine voters may lose their names from the roll.

• "Voluntary" in name only

• The forms may not clearly offer an option to refuse.

• People may then feel forced to give Aadhaar.

• No citizenship filter

• Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship, so linking alone cannot clean the roll of non-citizens [1].

In the Constitution and practice

• Article 324: the Election Commission of India (ECI) has "superintendence, direction and control" of the preparation of electoral rolls. In short, the ECI is in charge of the rolls.
• Article 326: elections are held on adult suffrage (every adult can vote). Only a citizen of India aged 18 or above who is not disqualified can vote. Aadhaar cannot prove this citizenship condition [1].
• RPA 1950, s.23(4)-(6): these sub-sections were added by the Election Laws (Amendment) Act 2021. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 20 December 2021 [2]. Other changes in the same Act:
• four qualifying dates to enrol (the date by which a person must be 18): 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October [2];
• "wife" replaced with "spouse" for service voters;

• power to take over buildings for poll use.

• History in practice:

Year	Event
March 2015	ECI starts NERPAP (National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme) to link EPIC with Aadhaar
August 2015	The Supreme Court's interim order in the Aadhaar case limits Aadhaar use, and NERPAP stops
2018	K.S. Puttaswamy (Aadhaar): the Aadhaar Act is upheld in part and the proportionality test is laid down
2021	Election Laws (Amendment) Act allows voluntary linking
2023	G. Niranjan v. ECI: the ECI tells the Supreme Court that Aadhaar is not mandatory and that it will clarify its forms
March 2025	ECI and UIDAI begin technical talks on linking EPIC with Aadhaar [1]

• March 2025 position: the ECI said linking will follow only Article 326, s.23(4), (5) and (6) of the RPA 1950 and Supreme Court judgments [1].
• Bihar SIR (2025):
• On 8 September 2025, the Supreme Court made Aadhaar the 12th accepted document for identity [4].
• It is still not proof of citizenship, and officials may check whether a card is genuine [4].
• Earlier, on 14 August 2025, the Court had allowed excluded voters to file claims using Aadhaar [4].

Don't confuse with

• Special Intensive Revision (SIR): a door-to-door re-check of the whole roll under s.21(3) RPA 1950, where every voter fills a fresh form [4]. Aadhaar linking is only a voluntary data match under s.23(4)-(6). It is not a full re-check of the roll.
• Proof of citizenship: Article 326 lets only citizens vote. Aadhaar proves identity only [1]. Under ADR v. ECI (2026), when citizenship is in doubt the ECI must refer the case to the Citizenship Act 1955 authority [4].
• NERPAP (2015): this was the ECI's earlier linking drive. It stopped after the Supreme Court's August 2015 interim order. The 2021 linking has a statutory basis (a basis in an Act of Parliament): the RPA 1950 amendment.
• Mandatory linking: the law does not make Aadhaar compulsory. Giving it is voluntary [3], and a person with "sufficient cause" cannot be refused or deleted [2].

Prelims Hooks

• s.23(4)-(6) RPA 1950, added by the Election Laws (Amendment) Act 2021, lets the ERO ask for Aadhaar "to establish identity" [2]. The Act concerned is the RPA 1950, not the RPA 1951.
• Existing voters give their Aadhaar on Form 6B. No name may be deleted if Aadhaar is not given "for sufficient cause" [2].
• Trap: Aadhaar proves identity, not citizenship. Voting needs citizenship under Article 326 [1].
• NERPAP began in March 2015 and stopped in August 2015 after a Supreme Court interim order.
• G. Niranjan v. ECI (2023): the ECI told the Supreme Court that giving Aadhaar is not mandatory.
• 8 September 2025: in the Bihar SIR case, the Supreme Court made Aadhaar the 12th document for identity, but not for citizenship [4].

Mains Points

• Roll accuracy vs right to vote
• Linking can catch duplicate entries and impersonation (one person voting in another's name).
• But software errors can wrongly delete genuine voters.

• So no name should be removed automatically from a data mismatch alone. Each case needs a human check, notice and a hearing.

• Puttaswamy and privacy

• Linking must stay truly voluntary. Forms should clearly offer the option to refuse.
• It must pass the four-part proportionality test.

• Voter data must be kept apart from welfare and bank data so that voters cannot be profiled.

• Limits of the tool

• Aadhaar cannot detect non-citizens [1].
• So linking is not a full answer to roll purity.
• It should be used alongside revision under Article 324 and the RPA 1950, with safeguards such as those in ADR v. ECI (2026): notice and hearing, referral on citizenship, and judicial review (a court check of the decision) [4].

Related concepts

• Election Laws (Amendment) Act 2021
• Remote Voting Machine
• Compulsory voting
• Right to reject

Read more

• Rolls, identity and access: Aadhaar linking, the SIR debate, remote and compulsory voting