BENGALURU: The Election Commission has announced that voters can now link their Aadhaar numbers with voter IDs. Those aged 17 can apply for voter ID cards in advance instead of waiting to turn 18, EC added. The commission has also come up with an initiative of revising the voters’ list every quarter.
Speaking at the launch of various initiatives by the EC, Manoj Kumar Meena, Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka, said, “New forms will be given to the citizens to enrol their name in the voters list, change of address, removal of name from the list and linking it with Aadhaar”.
EC will now accept advance applications from those aged 17, and review them periodically. Earlier, they had to wait for January 1 to enrol, while under the new system, applications will be reviewed every quarter in January, April, July and October. A helpline App has also been introduced by the EC which allows voters to search their electoral roll using personal details, and EPIC numbers.
The EC has also come up with a campaign for voluntarily linking Aadhaar to voter IDs from Monday, but it is not mandatory. The government earlier in June amended the Registration of Electors Rules to allow linking Aadhaar details with a voters list to weed out duplicate entries and make election law gender-neutral for service voters. Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary of Urban Development Department Rakesh Singh, and BBMP Administrator, BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath, were present during the event.