CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Unique Identification Authority of India and the Election Commission of India to probe into the allegations that the BJP’s Puducherry unit had used Aadhaar data for campaigning.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, in their interim orders, refused to accept the submissions made by the BJP local unit that it had obtained the numbers through door-todoor campaigns over a period of time.
The court also made it clear that the ECI should deal with the perceived breach of code of conduct without putting a lid on the issue, and a separate probe initiated against the party should go on.
The court observed, “Apart from the unfair mileage that the political party may have gained in resorting to a form of campaigning without obtaining prior permission, there is the serious matter of privacy of citizens being breached. This huge aspect should not be lost in the politics of the season or the hullabaloo of the attendant campaigning.”
Directing the UIDAI to answer how it may have failed to protect details and particulars furnished to it in confidence by citizens, the bench adjourned the matter to six weeks for the respondent-authorities to respond.