New Delhi: Two days after the Supreme Court had told the Election Commission of India (ECI) to allow voters of Bihar to submit their Aadhaar card as a document of identification during the special intensive revision (SIR), the Union Ministry of Law and Justice has told Parliament that the ECI “has informed” that through an order on July 4, 2022, it had launched a programme to collect the Aadhaar number of existing and prospective electors “on a voluntary basis.”“The Election Commission of India has informed that the Representation of the People’s Act, 1950 as amended by the Election laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, allows electoral registration officers to require the existing or prospective elector to provide the Aadhaar number for the purpose of establishing identity on a voluntary basis, “ the minister of state (independent charge) for law and justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal told the Rajya Sabha.In his written reply to a question asked by Samajwadi MP Manoj Kumar Jha, seeking details of state-wize numbers of citizens who have submitted their Aadhaar details for the purpose of linking with voter identity card (electronic photo identity card — EPIC), the minister also categorically said, “The linking of Aadhaar and election photo identity card has not yet started.”The ministry, however, stayed away from giving details asked about the number of voters for whom some discrepancy has been found between the details in their Aadhaar and voter ID cards. The MP had also the procedure being followed to address such discrepancies besides seeking state-wise details of the number of voters whose names have been stroked off the electoral rolls after linking their Aadhaar to their voter IDs.Significantly, this past March 18, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, along with the election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi held a meeting with the union Home Secretary, secretary legislative department, secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and CEO, Unique identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and “technical experts” of the ECI at Nirvachan Sadan where it was decided that “Aadhar card only establishes the identity of a person.”“As per the Article 326 of the Constitution of India, voting right can only be given to a citizen of India; Aadhaar card only establishes the identity of a person,” a press note released by the government had said.“Therefore, it was decided that the linking of EPIC with Aadhaar will be done only as per the provisions of Article 326 of the constitution, Section 23(4), 23(5) and 23(6) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and in line with the Supreme Court judgement in WP (civil) No. 177/2023.”The note issued by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) had added, “Accordingly, technical consultations between UIDAI and the technical experts of ECI are to begin soon.”