After the draft list of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in Bengal was published on Tuesday, new instructions regarding Aadhaar linking are being found when the BLO app is opened. This has caused new confusion. The Election Commission had stated that providing the Aadhaar number while filling the enumeration form was optional for the voters. Since it was not mandatory, many BLOs did not provide Aadhaar numbers for a section of voters when uploading enumeration forms to the app within the specified time. Many voters also did not provide their Aadhaar numbers.
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But on this day, many BLOs opened the BLO app and saw that next to the names of all voters whose Aadhaar numbers they had not provided or voters themselves had not mentioned in the enumeration form, 'Add Aadhaar' was written. BLOs believe they will have to upload the enumeration forms again, mentioning the Aadhaar numbers of those voters. For those whose enumeration forms have been uploaded with Aadhaar numbers, 'Aadhaar Added' is written next to their names.
The situation has given rise to a new question: even though Aadhaar has not been officially mentioned as mandatory or essential as a document in the 'SIR' enumeration form, is Aadhaar actually being made somewhat mandatory through this process?
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The Supreme Court and Election Commission have stated multiple times that Aadhaar card is not proof of Indian citizenship.
According to sources, voters who filled out the enumeration form online had to mention their Aadhaar number at that time. This was because a digital signature was required when filling up the enumeration form online. That digital signature was linked to Aadhaar. Those voters' Aadhaar numbers were uploaded to the enumeration form at that time itself.
