EC has decided in making the Aadhar card as a mandatory requirement for the exercise of franchise.

 EC has decided in making the
Aadhar card as a mandatory requirement for the exercise of franchise.

Press Release



We are herewith releasing the text of the letter addressed today to the
Chief Election Commissioner Dr. Nasim Zaidi by CPI(M) General Secretary,
Sitaram Yechury on the linkage of Voter ID Card details with Aadhar data
base.





(Hari Singh Kang)

For CPI(M) CC Office

***





Dear Dr. Nasim Zaidi,



I am writing to you expressing my serious concern, based on the reports we
are receiving from various quarters of our country that the state election
officers have sent out teams like those who do the voter enumeration to
collect the Aadhar card details of the voters. Those who have provided the
details, I am informed, have also received SMS messages that they no longer
require to produce their electoral cards while casting their vote.



Though the Election Commssion (EC) has some time ago clarified through a
press communiqué that the Aadhar Card detail are voluntary and not a
compulsory requirement for being enrolled on the voters list, this practice
as I mentioned above seems to suggest that the EC has decided in making the
Aadhar card as a mandatory requirement for the exercise of franchise.



You are aware that the honourable Supreme Court of India has passed a
verdict that the Aadhar card cannot be made compulsory for the exercise of
franchise, apart from others. The Indian Parliament is yet to enact a
legislation on this score.



Under these circumstances, it is indeed very strange that the electoral
officers are conducting such an exercise conveying such an impression.



Further, the data collected by the Election Commission and linking it up
with the Aadhar card of every voter is a huge data base, possibly the
largest data base in any country of the world, which could be put to illegal
use for discriminating against a section of bonafide citizens on grounds
that are patently proscribed by our Constitution. I am sure that the
Election Commission of India would not lend itself for such a gross abuse of
the data base it possesses of the Indian electorate through such linking up
with the Aadhar Card.



I am requesting you once again to reiterate that the Aadhar Card is not
mandatory for the exercise of franchise and to ensure the sanctity of the
data base collected by the ECI from being possibly misused. This may be done
through a media release and directions to the officials of the ECI and the
state election commissions.



Given the current misapprehensions on this score, may I request to clarify
the ECI’s position with urgency on this score.













Yours sincerely







Sd/-



(Sitaram Yechury)

General Secretary



Dr. Nasim Zaidi

Chief Election Commissioner

Election Commission of India