New Delhi: The Government of India is likely to issue rules regarding linking of Aadhaar with electoral roll soon, said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra adding that sharing Aadhaar details will be voluntary but those who choose not to share their details will have to give “sufficient reason” for the same, reported news agency PTI.
Terming the decision to link Aadhaar with the electoral list as “second biggest reform” — first one being setting four cut off dates in a year for voters turning 18 to be enrolled in the voters’ list — Chandra said that it will help to “check duplicate entries.” It will make the voter list pure. It will make the electoral roll more robust," he said.
Chandra, who leaves office tomorrow evening, May 15, in an interview with the news agency said, “It will be voluntary. But sufficient reason will have to be given by voters for not giving their Aadhaar numbers. The reason may include not having an Aadhaar or not having applied for one or any other reason they can think of. I can not think of any other reason.”
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The CEC, who had the responsibility of conducting recent polls in five states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur, said that linking Aadhaar with electoral rolls will help the Election Commission to purify voter lists. He also said that the process will ensure that the poll panel is able to give more services to the voters through its communication system.
"If we know about the voter more clearly, then we can give more services such as when the elections will be held and booth (details) on their phone numbers... We should know clearly that he/she is the right person," Chandra said.