Dispensing With Personal Details Of Voters: Madras High Court Seeks Response of UIDAI

The Madras High Court has sought the response of Unique identification Authority of India (UIDAI) regarding the alleged sharing of details and particulars of the citizens.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee & Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy was hearing a plea which was in relation to BJP (Puducherry) allegedly violating the model code of conduct by using personal details of voters.

The court has observed that the UIDAI is required to answer how details and particulars furnished to it in confidence by citizens and in the hope that the confidentiality would be preserved, may not have been adequately protected.

“It is completely within the domain of the Election Commission to deal with the issue, as to whether there has been a breach of the Model Code and the consequences therefor. Apart from the unfair mileage, that the sixth respondent political party may have gained in resorting to a form of campaign without obtaining prior permission therefore as required, there is the more serious matter of the privacy of the citizens being breached. This huge aspect of the matter should not be lost in the politics of the season or the hullabaloo of the attendant campaigning," the Bench noted. 

In the present matter, A Anand, President of Democratic Youth Federation of India approached the Court by way of a writ petition alleging that a prominent political party restored to a form of campaign by obtaining personal details of voters & citizens impermissible under the model code of conduct. The petitioner alleged that messages were received on the telephone numbers linked to Aadhar & not on other telephones or mobile phones which were not linked to the Aadhar. 

The Court took note of the fact that despite the Court’s initial order & issuance of notice dated March 7,2021 to BJP (Puducherry), the party has not paid heed to the matter & has continued with the campaign till March 29,2021 without seeking to reply to the Election Commission. 

On 26.03.2021, the Bench while directing UIDAI to immediately ascertain how such material could have been accessed by a particular political party remarked that,

 “Unfortunately, rather than the seventh respondent authority trying to ascertain how the personal details of voters may have been leaked from its system, such authority accuses the petitioner of not having brought the matter to the notice of the relevant authority.”

The UIDAI submitted that no breach was detected in the security of protecting the information retained by such authority.

The Election Commission of India ("ECI") submitted that it was awaiting the outcome of the investigation undertaken by the Cyber Crime Cell & also informed that it had brought the matter to the notice of UIDAI. 

BJP (Puducherry) submitted that vide letter dated March 8,2021 it sought permission of the Chief Electoral Officer to send bulk messages. It also contended that it did not obtain information from UIDAI but garnered the information through the efforts of its karyakartas. whereas the ECI submitted that it did not receive any letter from BJP to seek permission for bulk SMS. 

The Bench on 24.03.2021, directed the ECI to submit a report & observed that, 

“It will not do for the Election Commission to pass the buck in this case and say that the cyber crimes division is conducting an investigation. When the Election Commission is up and about in all other matters and asserts its primacy and authority, it has to look into this allegation immediately and with the degree of seriousness that it deserves.”

The Bench had also remarked that it hoped that ECI would take appropriate steps in furtherance of the letter dated March 7, 2021 issued to the relevant political party by the Nodal Officer. 

Thereafter, on March 25,2021 the ECI issued a notice asking all the political parties to adhere to the model code of conduct by not sending bulk messages in the Union Territory of Puducherry without obtaining precertification from the Chief Electoral Officer, Puducherry. Notices were also issued to service providers particularly BSNL, Airtel, Jio & Vodafone. 

“There is a credible allegation which has been squarely levelled that only mobile phones linked to Aadhar have received the SMS/messages. It is incumbent on the UIDAI to provide an adequate answer. There is no doubt that such a body would treat and guard the information regarding citizens that it possesses with a degree of responsibility and an appropriate inquiry would be conducted to ascertain the source of the leak, if any. It is completely unacceptable that such information would have been obtained by karyakartas as suggested by the sixth respondent political party," the Court observed. 

The matter is now listed for June 11, 2021. 

Case Title: A Anand v. Union Territory of Puducherry & 7 others| WP 7588 of 2021