Election Commission dismissed the rumours

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale on Monday claimed that election officials are forcing people to link their voter ID cards with their Aadhaar. However, the Election Commission (EC) clarified that this process is voluntary.

Quoting tweets by NGO Internet Freedom Foundation, Gokhale said there have been “several cases” of election officials forcing people to link their voter IDs with Aadhaar. “We have written to the Election Commission today asking them to issue clarification and stop it immediately,” he wrote on Twitter.

Aadhar details are voluntary
The Election Commission also responded on Twitter saying that it is ‘voluntary’ to give details of Aadhaar in Form 6B (new form released for sharing of Aadhaar details). Sharing a ‘link’ of instructions issued to the Chief Electoral Officers of the state in this regard, the commission said, “No entry will be removed from the voter list on the ground of non-submission of Aadhaar.”

In a memorandum submitted by the Trinamool Congress to the Election Commission, Gokhale referred to the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which allows linking of electoral data with Aadhaar. This bill was passed by the Parliament in December 2021.

He said that after the passage of the bill, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had informed Parliament that linking of voter ID with Aadhaar was “voluntary”, “not mandatory”.

Despite this, he claimed, several such cases were reported last month in which Booth Level Officers (BLOS) ‘warned’ people that their voter ID cards would be canceled and their names would be canceled if they did not link their Aadhaar. will be removed from the voter list.