As per the Registration of Voters (Amendment) Rules, 2022, the Central Election Commission has informed the Supreme Court that submission of an Aadhaar number is not mandatory for the voter list under Rule 26B.
Senior advocate Sukumar Padma Joshi, appearing for the Election Commission, informed the bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Mishra.
The Central Election Commission has assured the Supreme Court of appropriate clarification changes to Forms 6 and 6B (for registration of the electoral roll) requiring Aadhaar number details for the purpose of verification of the new voter list.
Telangana Region Committee Senior Vice President G. Niranjan through him the Election Commission gave the information.
Around 66 crore Aadhaar numbers have already been uploaded in the process of finalizing the voter list. Submission of an Aadhaar number is not mandatory under Rule 26B of the Registration of Voters (Amendment) Rules, 2022.
Sukumar Padma Joshi told the Supreme Court that the Election Commission is therefore looking into the forms introduced for that purpose to issue appropriate clarifications and changes.
The Registration of Voters (Amendment) Rules, 2022 has been proposed by the Central Government to provide for the linking of Aadhaar numbers with Election Identity Cards in June 2022. Form 6B is an application form in which a voter mentions an Aadhaar number for the purpose of voter list verification.
These rules are framed under the Electoral Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021. It provides for the automatic linking of Aadhaar and voter cards. As per law, it is not mandatory to link an Aadhaar to a voter card. A petition challenging the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 and the Registration of Voters (Amendment) Rules 2022 is pending in the Supreme Court.
