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Probe if BJP used Aadhaar data for polls: HC to UIDAI
The bench of chief justice Sanjib Banerjee and justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, in its interim orders, refused to accept the submission made by the BJP Puducherry unit that it obtained the mobile numbers through door-to-door campaigns over a period of time by party workers.
The Madras high court on Thursday directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to probe whether the Puducherry unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used Aadhaar data to send bulk text messages for election campaigning. The court also asked UIDAI how it may have failed to protect details and particulars furnished in confidence by citizens.
The bench of chief justice Sanjib Banerjee and justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, in its interim orders, refused to accept the submission made by the BJP Puducherry unit that it obtained the mobile numbers through door-to-door campaigns over a period of time by party workers.
“There is a credible allegation which has been squarely levelled that only mobile phones linked to Aadhaar have received the SMS messages. It is squarely for UIDAI to provide an adequate answer,” the court said.
The court was hearing a petition filed by A Anand, president of the Puducherry unit of the Democratic Youth Foundation of India (DYFI), alleging that local BJP candidates obtained mobile phone numbers of voters linked to their Aadhaar numbers, were creating WhatsApp groups in their respective constituencies, and sending bulk SMS-es for targeted campaigning.
The court, while passing its directions, observed that “apart from the unfair mileage that the political party may have gained in resorting to a form of campaigning without obtaining prior permission as required, there is the serious matter of the privacy of the citizens being breached”.
It added: “This huge aspect of the matter should not be lost in the politics of the season or the hullabaloo of the attendant campaigning.”
The court also said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) should continue its examination on whether the model code of conduct was breached by the state unit for the BJP. During the hearing, the court also noted that the BJP failed to obtain the necessary permission from the authorities to send bulk SMS-es.
The court adjourned the matter for six weeks. Puducherry goes to the polls on April 6, and the results will be announced on May 2, along with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam.
Congress MLA from Manavel constituency RKR Anantharaman demanded that BJP candidates be disqualified. “They are not allowed to use government machinery for polls or propaganda so they must be disqualified... They have been continuously making calls and playing recorded voice messages to Aadhar-linked numbers. We have complained to the election body in Puducherry as well as the ECI but we are yet to receive a response,” he said.
The BJP, however, refuted the allegations. “How can we get data from Aadhar? We are using data gathered by our booth-level party workers for the past several months,” said Nirmal Surana, BJP’s election in-charge in Puducherry.
HT reached out to UIDAI officials but there we no immediate response.
