EC to resume seeding Aadhaar with voter ID
TIMES NEWS NETWORK 11.3.2018
Bengaluru: Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat said on Saturday that the poll panel will resume the seeding of Aadhaar with the voter identity card, a process it had halted in 2015. Over 32 crore Electoral Photo ID Cards (EPICs) have been seeded with Aadhaar so far.
“We stopped the linking process after the Supreme Court began hearing matters on Aadhaar’s validity. But with several government schemes and other services being linked to Aadhaar, a window of opportunity has been thrown open. The commission has filed a petition in the SC regarding seeding Aadhaar with EPICs. It is being heard and once the court gives its clearance, we’ll restart the linking process,” said Rawat.
Nearly 55 crore EPICs are yet to be seeded, said the CEC. “We have been periodically issuing voter’s IDs across the country. A total of 87 crore IDs have been issued until now. So, barring the 32 crore already seeded, we have to seed the remaining 55 crore IDs with Aadhaar,” he said. Rawat admitted that despite countermanding polls in as many as three assembly constituencies due to huge misuse of money, there is no respite. “Despite our best efforts with warnings by way of countermanding elections in three or four assembly constituencies, the use of money has been growing and it is unabated,” he said. Quoting the instance of the R K Nagar byelection in Tamil Nadu last year, wherein ₹89 crore was distributed in just one constituency, Rawat said the commission took cue from SC rulings to countermand the elections.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK 11.3.2018
Bengaluru: Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat said on Saturday that the poll panel will resume the seeding of Aadhaar with the voter identity card, a process it had halted in 2015. Over 32 crore Electoral Photo ID Cards (EPICs) have been seeded with Aadhaar so far.
“We stopped the linking process after the Supreme Court began hearing matters on Aadhaar’s validity. But with several government schemes and other services being linked to Aadhaar, a window of opportunity has been thrown open. The commission has filed a petition in the SC regarding seeding Aadhaar with EPICs. It is being heard and once the court gives its clearance, we’ll restart the linking process,” said Rawat.
Nearly 55 crore EPICs are yet to be seeded, said the CEC. “We have been periodically issuing voter’s IDs across the country. A total of 87 crore IDs have been issued until now. So, barring the 32 crore already seeded, we have to seed the remaining 55 crore IDs with Aadhaar,” he said. Rawat admitted that despite countermanding polls in as many as three assembly constituencies due to huge misuse of money, there is no respite. “Despite our best efforts with warnings by way of countermanding elections in three or four assembly constituencies, the use of money has been growing and it is unabated,” he said. Quoting the instance of the R K Nagar byelection in Tamil Nadu last year, wherein ₹89 crore was distributed in just one constituency, Rawat said the commission took cue from SC rulings to countermand the elections.
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