Election Commission links biometric IDs with electoral roll in India
The Indian Election Commission (EC) is in talks with the unique identification authority on a process that would link the country’s biometrics-backed ID number system with electoral rolls to delete duplicate records and prevent voter fraud.
An EC functionary told The Hindustan Times that the process of checking Aadhaar numbers against voter rolls will start in the capital, Delhi, but only after forthcoming assembly elections are held in late 2014.
The government has mandated that every citizen must have an Aadhaar number by March 2015.
“We keep getting complaints of bogus and duplicate votes. One of the best ways to ensure that a person votes only once in the country is to link electoral rolls with Aadhaar numbers,” Delhi’s chief electoral officer Vijay Dev said.
In the run up to the elections, the Delhi electoral office has uncovered a large number of possible bogus voters in the capital. In one case, the photograph of a single man was found on 98 voter cards.