New Delhi, 05 November – A statement from Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, popularly known as Lalan Singh, has said that Aadhaar will no longer be used as the basis for beneficiary payments, proposing biometric authentication and voter ID (EPIC) numbers instead, is causing popular consternation with all-round criticism amid scrutiny of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) over large-scale voter deletions.
Singh, who holds the portfolios of Panchayati Raj, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, announced the proposed change while addressing the National Workshop on People’s Plan Campaign 2026-27, organised by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj on October 30.
He said Aadhaar would no longer serve as the basis for making payments to beneficiaries, arguing that the widespread availability of enrolment centres had made it possible to obtain Aadhaar cards within minutes.
Instead, beneficiaries would be identified through biometric authentication and their Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers, he said. However, the minister did not specify which schemes would come under the proposed arrangement or provide a timeline for its implementation.
The deletion of names from voter lists is part of the Narendra Modi government’s “larger design” to deprive millions of people of political representation and welfare entitlements and reduce them to second-class citizens, the Congress alleged citing Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh’s remarks.
Reacting to the Union Minister’s remarks, Congress leader Pawan Khera alleged that the proposal was part of a larger plan to exclude people from both the electoral and welfare systems.
“First, strip people of their political voice by deleting them from the rolls. Then strip them of their welfare entitlements for not being on them,” Khera wrote in a post on X on Thursday.
“This was the plan all along,” Pawan Khera of the Congress wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “The SIR exercise has already removed at least 13.3 crore Indians from the electoral rolls. Now the absence of a voter ID is being floated as grounds to deny ration, housing, health insurance and guaranteed employment.
“This is the larger design,” he added. “First, strip people of their political voice by deleting them from the rolls. Then strip them of their welfare entitlements for not being on them. The result: millions of Indians pushed out of both the democratic and the welfare framework, reduced to second-class citizens, denied rights that are theirs as citizens.”
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked whether Singh’s statement reflected an official government decision.
“Is this now official Modi Govt policy? If indeed it is, then it means that Aadhaar will not be used for the primary purpose for which it was conceived and intended,” Ramesh wrote on X.
He said there had been legitimate concerns that the manner in which Aadhaar was used had denied lakhs of people access to social welfare and security schemes. Linking entitlements to electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) would lead to exclusion on an even larger scale, he warned.
“Vote theft is just the trailer. The full film is the theft of rights and entitlements,” Ramesh said.
Singh, also known as Lalan Singh, had said that welfare payments would shift from Aadhaar-based identification to a system using beneficiaries’ biometric data and Electors’ Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers.
He did not specify which schemes would be covered by the proposed arrangement.
Congress social media department chairperson Supriya Shrinate alleged that the remarks revealed the purpose behind the electoral roll revision, denying rations, housing and healthcare.
“By striking your name from the voter list, it’s not just your democratic right that’s being taken away; your very existence as a citizen is being erased,” Shrinate said.
Singh made the remarks at a national workshop organised by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Questioning Aadhaar’s reliability for identifying beneficiaries, he claimed that enrolment facilities were available in every locality and a card could be obtained within five minutes.
Aadhaar-linked bank accounts are currently used to transfer benefits under several central welfare programmes, including PM-Kisan, rural housing assistance and old-age, widow and disability pensions.
The proposed shift has raised concerns because tying payments to electoral records could affect eligible beneficiaries whose names are missing from voter lists.
Singh did not clarify whether the proposed change would apply only to schemes under his ministries or across central welfare programmes. His remarks did not specify an implementation timeline.
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