CEO allays fears of genuine voters

Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal says non-linking of Aadhaar with voter ID will not make voters ineligible

Hyderabad; Allaying the fears of deletion of names from the voters lists, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Bhanwar Lal said genuine voters, who were not so far covered under Aadhaar, need not worry about the removal of their names from the voters lists.

Speaking to The Hans India here on Tuesday, the CEO said “if someone is not covered under the Aadhaar, then it would be fault of the government machinery for not covering them. So, their names cannot be removed from the voters’ lists.” However, in case of those voters having the Aadhaar numbers issued has to be linked with their voter IDs, he added.

When asked about the privacy issues, the CEO clarified that though the Aadhaar is linked to the Voter IDs the same would not be put in public domain, and no one can see and access the Aadhaar ID other than the voter himself. “The Election Commission of India has already promise protection of the privacy of the voters.

Hence, voters need not hesitate to link their Aadhaar to their voter IDs,” he said. Clarifying on the Aadhaar seeding, Banwar Lal said that Nizamabad has stood first in the country with 99 per cent of seeding of Aadhaar with voters, and the remaining one per cent would also be completed by the end of the July, he said.

In case of GHMC area, 95 per cent of linkage of Aadhaar with voter card was carried out and only five per cent was left to be covered in case of linkage. And, in Andhra Pradesh, so far 91 per cent of survey has been completed and 76 per cent of Aadhaar seeding had been completed, and expressed confidence to complete the remaining 24 per cent seeding of Aadhaar with vote IDs by August 15 this year, the CEO said.