NEW DELHI, November 6 (Aalimi Nation) – The Congress has questioned whether the Union government intends to replace Aadhaar with voter identity numbers to identify welfare beneficiaries, after Panchayati Raj Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, widely known as Lalan Singh, said Aadhaar would no longer be the basis for payments to beneficiaries.
Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh asked in a post on X whether the idea was "official Modi government policy." The party says the proposal, coming during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, could shut out poor families from welfare.
Speaking at a National Workshop on the People's Plan Campaign 2026-27, organised by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Singh said: "The Aadhaar card will no longer serve as the basis for making payments to beneficiaries." He added that Aadhaar enrolment centres "are now everywhere" and that a card "can be issued to anyone in just five minutes."
Reports say he indicated that beneficiaries would instead be identified through biometric details and Electors' Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers. He did not say which schemes would be covered, or when any change would begin.
Ramesh argued that Aadhaar's use had already left "lakhs of people" without access to welfare and social security schemes. Basing entitlements on the electoral roll while the SIR is under way, he said, would exclude even more. "Vote chori is just the trailer," he said, adding that the "full picture" is "hak-hukook chori," a phrase he used to allege theft of rights.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also objected. Its Politburo said that requiring a voter ID for welfare would make schemes "even more exclusive" and restrict access to benefits, and said marginalised communities, women and the economically vulnerable would be affected most. It cited a figure of more than 13.4 crore voters excluded in the SIR exercise. That figure has not been independently verified.
No formal notification or policy document on the change has been made public, and the Union government has not issued a detailed response to the criticism. Reports differ on how firm the plan is. One account notes that no scheme run directly by the Panchayati Raj Ministry credits money to beneficiaries' bank accounts, while some schemes under the Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Ministry, which Singh also heads, do require Aadhaar for payment.
The minister's remarks do not, on their own, amount to a notified decision to drop Aadhaar across all programmes.
The SIR, which the Election Commission is carrying out in several states and Union Territories, has become a major point of dispute between the ruling party and the opposition. The BJP says the exercise removes deceased persons, duplicate entries and ineligible names from the rolls. Opposition parties say it risks deleting genuine voters. Ramesh has separately accused the Commission of not fully complying with a Supreme Court direction to accept Aadhaar as one of the identity documents for voter registration.
Any clarification from the Panchayati Raj Ministry or the Union government on which schemes, if any, would move to EPIC-linked identification would settle the question. The matter is likely to feature in political exchanges as the SIR continues.
