The Election Law Amendment Act enables linking electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem.
The Congress leader, in his plea, had submitted that the linking of the cards “infringes upon the fundamental right of privacy of citizens and is unconstitutional and ultra vires the Constitution".
A bench of justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna is likely to take up the petition today.
“Linking of Aadhaar data with Electronic Electoral Photo Identity Card data will allow the personal and private data of voters to be available to a statutory authority and shall impose a limitation on the voters, i.e., the voters will now have to establish their identity before the Electoral Registration Officer (Respondent No. 2) by furnishing their respective Aadhaar details, the plea said
“The situation will further be aggravated by the fact that at present there are no laws for protecting the data of citizens," the plea said.
It claimed the amendment may even enable voter profiling as all the demographic information linked to Aadhaar shall be linked with the Voter ID.
“This can, in theory, also increase the possibility of disenfranchisement/intimidation based on the identity of voters.
"This may even increase chances of voter surveillance and the commercial exploitation of private sensitive data of voters," it said.
Earlier in 2015, SC deferred a similar move to link Aadhaar to Voter ID card after it was observed that “the Aadhaar card scheme was purely voluntary" and was only meant to be proof of residence, and not proof of citizenship.
Meanwhile on 5 July, days after rules were issued allowing linkage of Aadhaar with voters list to weed out duplicate entries, the Election Commission (EC) had warned of "severe" disciplinary action against electoral registration officers for any leakages of physical forms filled by electors to share their Aadhaar details. The Commission has also emphasised that submission of Aadhaar by electors is "voluntary".
In a letter sent to chief electoral officers of all states and Union territories on July 4, the poll panel said special camps at cluster level can be arranged on the dates coinciding with special campaign dates during special summary revision, where the electors can be persuaded to give their Aadhaar number voluntarily in Form-6B in hard copy.
According to a law ministry notification, using the newly-introduced Form-6B, existing voters may share their Aadhaar number will poll authorities.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (5) of Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950), the Central Government hereby notifies the 1st April, 2023 as the date on or before which every person whose name is included in the electoral roll may intimate his Aadhaar number in accordance with the said section," read the notification.
"The notification uses the term 'may' and not 'shall' which makes sharing details voluntary," a senior functionary had explained recently.
Asserting that furnishing of Aadhaar number is "purely voluntary", the letter said the electoral registration officer (ERO) "will make it clear to the electors that the purpose of obtaining of Aadhaar number is for authentication of his entries in electoral roll and extending better electoral services to them in future... It is emphasised that submission of Aadhaar by electors is voluntary".
The letter reiterates what was mentioned in the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 that the ERO will not delete any entry in the electoral roll on the ground of inability on the part of any existing elector to furnish Aadhaar number.
Referring to security measures for collecting and handling Aadhaar number, the letter said "in no circumstances, it should go in public domain. If the elector's information is required to put for public display, the Aadhaar details must be removed or masked".
As for preservation of Form-6B in hard copy containing Aadhaar number, the provisions of a regulation of Aadhaar (Authentication and Offline Verification) Regulations, 2022 will be strictly followed which says that Aadhaar numbers collected through physical forms or photocopies of Aadhaar letters will be masked by the requested entity by redacting the first 8 digits of the Aadhaar number before storing the physical copies.
"Such collected Form 6B along with attachment, after digitisation, shall be kept in safe custody with double lock by EROs. Severe disciplinary action will be initiated against EROs for any leakages of physical forms in public domain," the Commission warned.
It said under no circumstances, the 12-digit Aadhaar number digitised in ERONET through various input channels will be stored in ERONET.
"This number should be stored in Licensed Aadhaar Vault hired by ECI in accordance with relevant regulations of UIDAI," the letter underlined.
(With inputs from agencies)
