NEW DELHI: The submission of an Aadhaar number is not mandatory for authentication of the electoral roll, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has recently submitted before the Supreme Court. The ECI added that it is also looking into issuing appropriate “clarificatory” changes in the electoral roll registration forms.
“Submission of the Aadhaar number is not mandatory under Rule 26-B of the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules 2022 and hence the Election Commission is looking into issuing appropriate clarificatory changes in the forms introduced for that purpose,” the ECI counsel submitted before a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra.
Recording the submissions put forth by the ECI counsel, the bench disposed of the writ questioning the requirement of Aadhaar details in the forms dealing with authentication of information of the new voters.
The plea was filed by Telangana Congress leader G Niranjan. The ECI’s counsel also told the court that nearly 66,23,00,000 Aadhaar numbers had already been uploaded in the process of finalising electoral rolls.