No concrete steps to link Aadhaar and EPIC despite critical need
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, August 09 2017:
Questions have been raised about absence of Government initiative to link Aadhaar cards of citizens with their voter IDs despite the rising importance of Aadhaar in the country .
According to a key functionary of BJP, most of the people of the country now possess Aadhaar numbers due to the rising importance of Aadhaar cards and its functions .
It is now crucial to link Aadhaar cards with the Permanent Account Number (PAN), LPG connections and even social welfare schemes .
Aadhaar numbers and PAN numbers of an individual are two really important numbers which cannot be given to anyone else.
These two numbers help in discouraging unethical practices when it comes to various social welfare schemes of the Government .
However, neither the Government or any of the political parties in the country have taken up any steps to link Aadhaar cards with the voter ID cards or the Elector Photo ID Cards (EPIC) .
The source pointed out that there were cases of non-existent people or even dead people and people from even non existent villages being listed in the voter list during the 11th State Assembly election and added that the Election Commission of India took up stringent actions to prevent misuse of voting rights but those steps cannot be called a huge success .
Non only in Manipur but also in various parts of the country, there are rampant cases of proxy voters and misuse of voting rights .
The key functionary claimed that linking Aadhaar cards with the voter IDs of the individuals who have attained the permissible age to cast their vote as well as those who have been included in the voter list, will be the easiest and most economical method to root out the evil of proxy voting and misuse of voting rights .
Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh have not been able to enrol in the Indian Electoral System, those without Aadhaar cards are not able to cast their votes, Kashmiri separatists who disdain Indian Citizenship are not able to vote, the source added .
In Manipur, cases of misusing voting rights always crop up during election time, but no concrete steps have been taken up to link an individual's Aadhaar card with his or her voter IDs .
The use of Aadhaar is increasing day by day, for instance, Aadhaar is becoming necessary during student's admission process, applying for scholarships, applying for jobs etc .
The source explained that even the Agriculture Department distributed fertilisers to those having Aadhaar cards and stated that the lack of initiative or steps to link the Aadhaar cards with voter IDs is one big loophole which is yet to be plugged.