The integrity of India’s electoral system relies on the confidence of voters and political parties.
After state elections, concerns were raised over an unexpected increase in voters in states like Maharashtra compared to the 2024 general elections.
The opposition, particularly Congress and Trinamool Congress, questioned the validity of the voter registration process, especially the sharing of Electors Photo Identification Card (EPIC) numbers among different voters.
The possibility of voters casting ballots in multiple states due to duplicate EPIC numbers is a major issue, especially for migrant voters.
The Election Commission (ECI) promised to update the voter database to ensure unique EPIC numbers but hasn't fully addressed the concerns.
Linking Aadhaar and biometric verification could prevent fraud, but Aadhaar alone isn't foolproof and raises privacy concerns.
Biometric verification could exclude legitimate voters due to technical issues, and Aadhaar could be misused for profiling.
The ECI needs to conduct a clear de-duplication process to ensure each voter has only one EPIC number, and they can only vote in their area of residence.
Political parties have access to electoral rolls, but the ECI needs to mask Aadhaar numbers to prevent misuse of voter data.
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