NEW DELHI: Election Commission now requires an applicant seeking fresh enrolment or inclusion/exclusion of a voter from the electoral roll via online mode to mandatorily verify his identity through OTP-based Aadhaar authentication.While online applications related to the electoral roll – through Form 6 (fresh enrolment), Form 7 (objection to inclusion/exclusion of voter in roll) and Form 8 (corrections) – would henceforth require’e-sign’ based on Aadhaar authentication, those who do not have Aadhaar number can always fill out the physical forms and personally submit them to the electoral registration officer (ERO) or the booth level officer (BLO).The ‘e-sign’ requirement for online applications related to the voters’ list, EC sources told TOI, was conceptualised in Aug and rolled out quietly in the second week of Sept. The reform, it was underlined, preceded Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s Sept 18 press conference during which he had alleged unauthorised attempts at deletion of over 6,000 voters in Aland assembly constituency of Karnataka in Dec 2022.The ‘e-sign’ initiative is meant to ensure that the applicant’s name in the electoral photo identity card (EPIC) and phone number – as declared in the online Forms 6, 7 or 8 – matches with his/her details recorded in the Aadhaar system.Form 7 allows an elector to object against the proposed inclusion or exclusion of a voter in the electoral roll of a constituency in which he himself is also registered. Such an applicant must mention his name, EPIC number and mobile number of self ‘or’ relative (father/mother/husband/legal guardian) in the form. The e-sign option prompts the applicant to complete his OTP-based Aadhaar authentication before submitting the form.EC had, soon after Rahul’s presser, clarified only 24 of the 6,018 applications for deletions in Aland were found genuine, while the remaining 5,994 were found incorrect, and rejected. An FIR was filed on Sept 6, 2023 by the Aland ERO in the case and all available details handed over to the investigation agency.