In a fit to avoid any discrepancies during the general elections, the Election Commission of India has requested the government to link Aadhar Card with voter IDs. The National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) was embarked in 2015 that was soon taken back. It was initiated with a motive to wipe out the duplicate, ineligible, bogus and shifted voters but was halted long before the data of 32 crore voters could be collected or linked.

Linking of Aadhar card with Voter cards in the words of EC will ‘pave the way for exploring the use of technology for voting and verification of voter identity in the future.’
Voter card is a proof of citizenship while the 12 digit Aadhar number is another voluntary document that is used for identification and not nationality.

The 12 digit number, time and again has been linked to so many things that it can now prove to be a potential threat to a person’s privacy. It can also lead to exclusion of voters just as the exclusion of PDS beneficiaries. On the other hand, if this is used in a correct way it can knock out fake voter IDs and can help in curbing in forgeries related to voting. Voting is an important part of democracy and an integral part of a citizen, therefore EC must re-check and re-examine the path and pot holes before coming to any decision.