Judges handling West Bengal voter appeals can use PAN cards and government-issued identity documents to access the Election Commission’s designated portal, according to information communicated by the state Chief Electoral Officer’s office last week and reported by The Indian Express. The arrangement follows objections from some tribunal judges to using Aadhaar-based verification for logging into the system.
The judges had raised their concerns in a letter to West Bengal’s additional chief electoral officer on September 24. They had not logged into the Commission’s portal or disposed of online applications after the Aadhaar-based verification process became an issue, the report said. The judges instead continued their work offline, citing sources.
Under the alternative process, judges will be able to access and work on the portal through a private agency. They will have to submit a colour scan of their PAN card, a government identity document, a colour photograph, a mobile number and an email address. Once the details are submitted, one-time passwords will be sent to the registered phone number and email address as part of the verification process.
The process will also include video verification. During that exercise, the judges will be required to display their PAN cards and government identity documents. The state CEO office’s communication therefore replaces Aadhaar verification with a combination of documentary checks, one-time passwords and video-based identity confirmation for the judges concerned.
The dispute emerged after Seema Khanna, director general of the Election Commission’s information technology department, explained the portal update on September 21. A section of the tribunal judges subsequently objected to the requirement that they verify their identities through Aadhaar before accessing the platform.
The issue is linked to the Special Intensive Revision process in West Bengal, during which more than 60 lakh names were placed on a list requiring further examination, according to the report. Following directions from the Supreme Court, cases involving discrepancies in voter information were assigned to tribunals comprising retired judges.
Several voters whose names were excluded have approached these tribunals claiming that they are eligible voters. Some cases have been decided, but most remain pending. The tribunals’ access to the Commission’s digital system is therefore connected to the processing of appeals involving the state’s electoral rolls.
The revised access mechanism permits the judges to resume portal-based work without Aadhaar verification, subject to submission of the specified documents and completion of the stated checks. The CEO office’s communication to the judges sets out the alternative identity-verification process through which access to the portal will be provided.
