Voter ID to replace Aadhaar on welfare? The opposition cries foul, links the government’s proposal with the exclusion of SIR | Today’s news
Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh and Congress leader Pawan Khera on Thursday claimed that millions of Indians will be pushed out of democratic and social frameworks after the Special Intensive Review (SIR) conducted by the Election Commission of India.
Kher’s comments came in the backdrop of a recent remark by Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, who claimed that Aadhaar will no longer be the basis for payments to government scheme beneficiaries. Instead, biometric verification and voter ID numbers or Voter Photo ID (EPIC) numbers are used to identify beneficiaries and process payments.
What Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh Said
“Aadhaar enrollment centers are now everywhere, you can find them on every street. An Aadhaar card can be issued to anyone in just five minutes,” Singh said last week during the National Workshop on People’s Plan Campaign 2026-27, according to The Indian Express.
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“The Aadhaar card will no longer be the basis. Instead, payments to beneficiaries will be processed using their biometrics and their voter ID number (EPIC),” the minister added.
“This is a bigger design”
Khera, a Congress Rajya Sabha MP, criticized the move, saying, “It was the plan all along.”
“The SIR exercise has already removed at least 13.3 million Indians from the electoral rolls. Absence of voter ID is now cited as a reason for denial of rations, accommodation, health insurance and guaranteed employment,” he said.
“This is a bigger proposition. First deprive people of their political voice by delisting them. Then deprive them of their social security entitlements for not being on them,” the Congress leader added.
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The CPI(M) on Wednesday condemned the Centre’s proposal to make voter identification and biometric authentication mandatory for social security payments, saying it would further exclude the rural poor and intensify the impact of electoral roll deletions during the ongoing SIR.
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In a statement, the party’s politburo said Union Minister Singh’s announcement would create new hurdles for people seeking access to government welfare schemes.
The party cited cases of elderly women in agriculture who were denied benefits because biometric machines failed to pick up an iris scan, while manual workers faced verification failures because their worn fingerprints could not be matched.
It also said that electronic KYC requirements for smartphones pose difficulties for rural households that do not own such devices.
The CPI(M) said the proposed use of Electoral Photographic Identity Card (EPIC) numbers was particularly problematic during the SIR exercise, which it described as an exercise in “mass disenfranchisement”.
The party further alleged that some state governments were denying people rations and other benefits on the basis that their names were deleted during the SIR exercise and said exclusion from the electoral roll could not be used to deny entitlement to welfare benefits.
She also questioned the Centre’s earlier stand on Aadhaar, claiming that the government had assured the Supreme Court that the document would not be mandatory, but subsequently expanded its use under welfare schemes.
“After offering Aadhaar as reliable, the government itself is discarding it,” the party said, demanding immediate withdrawal of the proposed change.
