UID Project and the Electoral Roll*

The paper argues that with a little innovation and coordination, the Electoral Roll (ER) database – collected by the Election Commission (EC) – could be an ideal starting point for the UID project. Given that this data is available in the public domain, it is likely that demographic measures computed from this data would be more accurate than estimates from other similar databases. Further, given the public interest in elections, it is argued that there would be an inherent institutional pressure on the EC to make the data available as accurately as possible and also in time. This, in turn, would be an advantage in updating unique identification on a continuous basis. The special emphasis in this paper is to show that the suggested policy changes on data collection and updating of electoral rolls would lead to unique identification of individuals and that these changes are economically and practically feasible.