ECI clarifies on Aadhaar number collection

Chief Electoral Officer, Nagaland, Sanjay Kumar, IAS in a press release stated that the Election Commission of India (ECI) in a letter dated May 22, 2015 has issued clarifications on collection of Aadhaar number from the applicants
As per the letter, the Election Commission of India has stated that furnishing of Aadhaar number was not mandatory (only optional) and may be furnished voluntarily, as clarified by the Supreme Court.
No electoral service will be denied to any elector on the ground of non-furnishing of Aadhaar number.
Non-furnishing of Aadhaar number would not be a ground for rejection of application for new enrolment/objection against an application for new enrolment.
Similarly, non-furnishing of Aadhaar number will not be a ground for deletion of name of an existing elector from Electoral roll.
ECI further stated that collection of Aadhaar number was only for the purpose of authentication of details of electors and confidentiality and security of data must be ensured during the process of feeding and seeding.
ECI said, Aadhaar number of an elector shall not be displayed/reflected in electoral roll or  Electoral Photo Identity Cards or voter slips or shown in digitized form on website for public scrutiny or in any other document of the Commission, shareable with public or put in public domain. It must be ensured that Aadhaar database is not misused under any condition.