Linking Aadhaar To Voter ID: Are There Any Safety And Privacy Risks?

On Monday, the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in the Lok Sabha. One of the most significant goals of this suggested bill is to link Aadhaar identification number to the electoral rolls.

As is true for all-things-Aadhaar, this triggered a strong reaction, much owing to security concerns that are associated with mandatory linking to Aadhaar. The bill requires applicants to link their electoral ID to their Aadhaar credentials while registering as voters.

That's not all! Even if you are already registered as a voter, election officers may require you to share your Aadhaar number for authentication purposes. The government claims that this would help eliminate duplication of users and help make elections more transparent.

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Is linking Aadhaar to Voter ID compulsory?

The bill also adds that no person shall be denied registration as a voter in the absence of Aadhaar details. While the Narendra Modi-led government pitched the bill as a single-solution to fraudulent votes that stem from one person with multiple voter IDs, many critics and opposition leaders have highlighted the short-sightedness of linking Aadhaar to electoral roll.

Also read: How To Get India's Digital Health ID Card: New Aadhaar For Your Medical Data?

The biggest concern? As Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress party said in the Lok Sabha, it could be an "infringement of the fundamental right to privacy." In the midst of massive data leaks and the growing value of personal information on illegal portals, personal data is at the centre of all internet regulation across the globe. Even then, the central government has pushed for linking Aadhaar to everything - from bank accounts to Covid-19 vaccinations and even tax filings.

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Besides potential data leak and invasion of privacy, profiling constitutes another major concern with Aadhaar linking. As noted in The Indian Express, to procure Aadhaar, one may need to display their demographic information such as caste certificates and driving license. Such information could be used for targeted political advertisement. Imagine Facebook's targeted ads, but in the real world with elections being the product.

The issues with Aadhaar

Aadhaar's merit as a centralised collection of people's personal data has been questioned. For instance, in 2018, a portal made by the Andhra Pradesh government gave people access to data of people based on two parameters - religion and caste - both private. When linking Voter ID and Aadhaar was first attempted in 2015, about 55 lakh voters from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were left out.

Also read: India Tests Touchless Covid Vaccination With Aadhaar Face Detection: Do We Need It?

In just September, over 500 private citizens and organisation urged the Election Commission to discourage linking Aadhaar with Voter ID, claiming it could open up possibilities of "disenfranchisement based on identity, increased surveillance, and targeted advertisements." In addition, it also listen "commercial exploitation of private sensitive data" as one of the issues.

UIDAI

The government's argument is based on the wrongly perceived notion that Aadhaar is fool proof. Fraudulent Aadhaar cards are actually quite common in India and UIDAI (the authority behind Aadhaar) in 2020 cancelled over 40,000 Aadhaar cards. Sometimes, animals were also issued Aadhaar cards (e.g. - dogs in Uttar Pradesh).

If we're transferring authority from one document to another based on its advertised safety, then it should at least attempt to appear safe from new threats online.

Are you going to link your voter ID to your Aadhaar card? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of tech and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.

Citation

Bhatnagar, G. V. (n.d.). Lakhs of Voters Deleted Without Proper Verification in Andhra, Telangana. The Wire.

Sethi, A. (2018, September 11). AADHAAR Seeding Fiasco: How To Geo-Locate By Caste and Religion In Andhra Pradesh With One Click. HuffPost.

The Hindu Bureau. (2021, December 20). Bill that seeks to link electoral rolls to Aadhaar to be tabled in Lok Sabha on December 20. The Hindu.

NewsClick. (2021, September 28). Linking Voter IDs with Aadhar Dangerous, Over 500 Citizens, Organisations Write to EC. TheLeaflet.

Online, I. E. (2021, July 11). Why linking Aadhaar with voter ID is a dangerous idea. The Indian Express.

Kalia, S. (2021, December 17). New Voting Reforms May Allow Linking of Aadhaar With Voter ID, Raising Privacy Concerns. The Swaddle.