Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa Says EC Must Explain 'Abnormal Surge' in Electors: Report

New Delhi: Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa has said that the Election Commission (EC) must clear air on the surge in electors during recent elections including those in Maharashtra and Delhi.

The opposition has repeatedly flagged concerns about the increase in voters during these elections.

“Identifying the voter’s uniqueness is an answer to that problem because one person is not supposed to have more than one Aadhaar. Regarding the surge in the number of electors, the EC must explain why the number of electors registered increased abnormally,” Lavasa told New Indian Express in an interview.

“That is one part of the story. The question is how to de-duplicate them if these people were already enrolled in another place and were also enrolled here. The EC is already in consultation with political parties and technical departments. So they have to come up with a solution because there are already 98 crore registered voters,” Lavasa added.

The former Election Commissioner said that it is yet not known how many people could be registered in more than one place; the same person registered in more than one place.

“In my view, Aadhaar is the only document that can be used for de-duplication,” said Lavasa.

While Lavasa said that by linking Aadhar with voter card is the only way to de-duplicate voters who are already registered elsewhere since it will have individual biometrics, but the right to vote should not be dependent on having an Aadhar.

“The Aadhaar Act does not make having an Aadhaar mandatory. The EC has held, and in my view, the right to vote is not dependent on having an Aadhaar. That should be separated. As far as the Aadhaar is concerned, it can be used for administrative purposes to de-duplicate. That doesn’t mean you can deny somebody the right to be included in the electoral list if they are eligible,” Lavasa told the newspaper.

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