The drive to link Aadhaar numbers with voter ID cards (EPIC) began in Meghalaya today, with the aim to avoid errors in the electoral rolls.
In Shillong, the programme was launched by state Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Roy Kharkongor.
Kharkongor highlighted the major modifications in registration forms of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and also dwelt on the linking and authentication of electoral rolls data.
In a change, eligible members of the public can enrol four times in a year – January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1; previously voters could only enrol on January 1.
Another initiative by the ECI is to simplify the forms – Form 6 will be exclusively for the registration of new voters, Form 8 is a standalone form for changes in the electoral roll and Form 7 contains a provision for attaching a death certificate to make the process of deletion simpler.
Form 6B has also been added for linking Aadhaar details to the voter’s EPIC.
Kharkongor stressed that linking the two is completely voluntary and that voters will not be compelled to furnish their Aadhaar details. The inability to furnish Aadhaar details will also not prevent a voter from being enrolled or from casting a vote.
The objective of this linkage is to establish the identity of electors and authentication of entries in electoral rolls and to identify registration of names of the same person in more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency.
As Meghalaya will go to the polls next year, Kharkongor urged all Deputy Commissioners to conduct extensive exercises in low Aadhaar registration constituencies and polling stations and ascertain the reasons for the low registration and also formulate strategies, awareness programmes and mechanisms on how to bridge the gap in these pockets.
Meanwhile, in Jowai, Deputy Commissioner in-charge PK Boro said that Aadhaar enrolment in West Jaintia Hills is still relatively low, with only 60 percent of the population covered, though he expected it to rise with the introduction of electoral roll linking.
A similar programme was held in Mawkyrwat, where the Additional Deputy Commissioner, SC Laloo, was the chief guest.
