Rethink Aadhaar joins thirteen other prominent civil rights, electoral reform, academic and digital rights groups including the Association for Democratic Reforms, Bahujan Economists, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, the Internet Freedom Foundation, MKSS and National Alliance of People’s Movements, to oppose the Election Laws Amendment Bill, which proposes linking Aadhaar and voter ID cards.

The Election Laws Amendment Bill is listed for introduction in Lok Sabha tomorrow. As per the announcement of the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in Parliament on Friday, 17th December, the Bill may be taken up for consideration and passing in the coming week. Among other things, the Bill may contain provisions for linking Voter ID and Aadhaar as several media reports have confirmed that this proposal has received Cabinet’s approval. 

The ongoing Winter Session of Parliament is scheduled to run till 23rd December, raising concerns that the Government might push for the Bill without proper consultations and discussions and in haste, before the session ends. This would be highly improper as any proposals to link Aadhaar and Voter ID is a serious matter requiring careful consideration and considerable public consultation. It is also improper that the Government is aiming to bring this Bill and provide for Aadhaar and Voter ID linking while the Parliament Standing Committee on Law and Justice is currently studying this subject and is yet to submit a report on the same. 

Given that the current government has a dismal record on sending Bills to Standing Committees for study, this attempt to bring a Bill on a subject that is currently under consideration of a Committee is indicative of the scant regard the Government has for parliamentary procedures and conventions which must be resisted.

While the Ministry of Law and Justice and Election Commission of India have been going back and forth on the proposal of linking Aadhaar with Voter ID, there has been no public consultation on this proposal. 

Rigorous identification requirements which act as a barrier to people being able to exercise their right to vote, are rightly termed as voter suppression measures which strike at the heart of a democracy, and should not be allowed in a democracy. The right to political participation is, at least, a constitutional right, and a right under international human rights law. 

Although reports indicate that this proposal is being pushed in the name of ‘reforms,’ and that any linking will be ‘voluntary’ in nature, we are concerned that it will almost certainly lead to mass disenfranchisement, could increase voter fraud, and could violate people’s right to privacy by enabling voter profiling through the linkage of data sets, as well as impede the guarantee of secrecy of the ballot. 

Earlier this year, we had issued a statement endorsed by more than 500 prominent organizations and concerned citizens strongly opposing the proposal to link Aadhaar and voter ID. In the statement, we had highlighted the following harms that may arise from this proposal:

1. Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship and cannot be legally used as a basis to verify or delete a citizen’s name from the voter rolls.

2. Earlier efforts to ‘purify’ voter rolls using Aadhaar have led to unfair and mass disenfranchisement of voters as seen in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In 2015, the exercise undertaken through the National Election Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) was stayed by the Supreme Court while hearing the clutch of petitions challenging the Aadhaar program and was never permitted in its final judgment, thus making its revival, in a different form, a violation of the Supreme Court’s orders on Aadhaar linkage.

3. Previous attempts to ‘clean up’ databases using Aadhaar, as seen in the MNREGA or PDS beneficiaries database, have led to the deletion of genuine beneficiaries, leading to their exclusion from welfare schemes. Additionally, if biometric authentication is made a requirement, it will almost certainly lead to exclusion.

4. The Aadhaar database has many data quality issues which are likely to seep into the Voter database affecting its quality and sanctity, making it more prone to frauds. In fact, it has been found that UIDAI had been intensively lobbying for this proposal as a way to provide legitimacy to the Aadhaar project, which has been mired in controversy. 

5. Linking the voter database with Aadhaar will be a frontal attack on voters’ privacy, enabling voter profiling and surveillance which would be particularly detrimental to minorities. As some previous experience indicates, this could be used to disenfranchise those opposed to a party or its ideology. 

6. Linking Aadhaar numbers to voter rolls could also pave the way to undermine the secrecy of the ballot, which is the hallmark of our constitutional democracy. 

7. The promise of voluntariness is a chimera. In the past, as we saw with bank accounts, a ‘voluntary’ linking of Aadhaar practically means that persons will be compelled to do so, often at the threat of being excluded from availing a service. 

The linking of Aadhaar and Voter ID will also be unconstitutional as it doesn’t meet the test of proportionality laid down by the Supreme Court in its Puttaswamy judgment. For it to be proportional, the government needs to show that it is a necessary means in pursuance of a legitimate aim. There are neither verifiable estimates to show the extent to which duplication errors exist in the voter database, nor has any evidence been placed to show that linking Aadhaar with voter id will reduce such errors. The government also hasn’t shown why its traditional and time tested methods of verification are not working, or what other less intrusive means have been used for the same; nor how privacy and exclusionary harms resulting from such an exercise are proportionate to any gain that may arise from such exercise.

Call to action

As many concerned groups have said before, linking Voter ID and Aadhaar is an ill-thought, illogical, and unnecessary move which could undermine our electoral democracy, and impact voters’ trust in the electoral system. Indians’ right to vote cannot be imperilled by irresponsibly linking databases and using an opaque algorithm to “verify” identities. Technological solutions cannot replace responsible administration. Timely door-to-door verification of voters remains the most effective method of updating electoral rolls and ensuring accuracy of voter data.

We demand that the government withdraw the proposal. We also appeal to our lawmakers to push the government to not to introduce the Bill without proper deliberations or even if introduced, to ensure it is immediately sent to the Parliament Standing Committee for study and review. Hasty legislation with such wide import is detrimental to our democratic principles. Aadhaar and Voter ID linking must be resisted until a careful and impartial analysis of its advantages and disadvantages is undertaken.

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Signed by: 

Article 21 Trust 

All India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN)

Association for Democratic Reforms

ASEEM, Hyderabad

Amnesty International India

Bahujan Economists

Chetna Andolan

Citizens Forum For Civil Liberties (CFCL)

Internet Freedom Foundation

Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha

Rethink Aadhaar

Right to Food Campaign

Maadhyam

Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) 

National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

V Suresh, General Secretary, National People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)

The One Vote Project