R S Sharma, the founding director general of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and a former Secretary to the Government of India, has strongly criticized the Election Commission's (EC) ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. In an editorial, Sharma described the exercise as not only cumbersome but also "ruinously expensive," proposing a technology-driven alternative utilizing Aadhaar for voter authentication.
The High Cost of Manual Voter Roll Revision
The current SIR process is designed to ensure accurate and clean electoral rolls. However, Sharma highlights the immense scale and financial burden of this manual undertaking. It involves approximately one million public servants, many of whom are school teachers, and costs the Indian exchequer thousands of crores of rupees in each cycle. Given its periodic repetition, Sharma argues that this expense is inherent to the process's design and unsustainable.
Aadhaar: A Digital Alternative for Electoral Authentication
Sharma's proposal centers on leveraging India's existing digital infrastructure, particularly the Aadhaar system. He suggests that an Aadhaar-based authentication system would require a relatively modest one-time investment for infrastructure development, followed by significantly lower annual expenditures compared to the recurring, exorbitant costs of the current manual process.
Aadhaar for Identity, Not Citizenship
Crucially, Sharma clarifies the distinction between identity and citizenship. He notes that while Aadhaar establishes an individual's unique identity, it does not serve as proof of citizenship. Similarly, voter IDs and PAN cards establish identity or eligibility for specific purposes without independently proving citizenship. However, Aadhaar's extensive coverage of India's residents and its robust de-duplication and authentication mechanisms make it an ideal tool for verifying that a person is unique and alive.
Proposed Aadhaar-EPIC Face Authentication System
Specifically, Sharma recommends that the Election Commission commission an Aadhaar-EPIC (Electoral Photo Identity Card) face-authentication application, developed in collaboration with UIDAI. Such a system could become the primary method for revising electoral rolls, thereby eliminating the need for thousands of crores to be spent on repeated manual verification by a large workforce.
This mechanism would use face authentication to match a voter with their Aadhaar-linked identity. Sharma believes this approach could effectively detect genuine voters and identify potential duplicates or non-existent records, significantly reducing the reliance on extensive door-to-door verification.
Verifying Liveness and Uniqueness Through Technology
Sharma points to Aadhaar's successful implementation in welfare delivery systems as evidence of its capability for large-scale authentication. He cites examples of Aadhaar-enabled transactions and authentication exercises for pensioners, demonstrating how technology can reliably confirm an individual's existence and unique identification. If a person can successfully authenticate through Aadhaar, the electoral system gains a powerful technological layer for verifying that individual's presence.
The underlying idea is not to replace voter rolls with Aadhaar but to integrate Aadhaar as an authentication layer. The determination of citizenship and eligibility to vote would continue to be governed by existing electoral laws and processes. Sharma's overarching argument is a call for India to transition away from a predominantly manual, periodic electoral roll revision process and embrace a more efficient, technology-led alternative, given the digital infrastructure already in place.