The Unique Identification Aadhaar card has emerged as a key poll issue in the Bangalore South constituency where Congress candidate, former UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani, is up against BJP’s five-time MP Ananth Kumar. This comes after a Supreme Court order reiterated that an Aadhaar card is not a prerequisite for public services, and a sting operation by a news portal revealed illegal immigrants could obtain Aadhaar cards as well. Kumar used this to attack Nilekani who, as UIDAI chief, had conceived and supervised the roll-out of Aadhaar cards for 60 crore people. At some election rallies, Kumar has labelled the initiative ‘Niraadhaar programme’, and accused the UPA of siphoning funds under its name. Nilekani, on his part, accused Kumar of attempting to sabotage a government programme for political mileage and said Kumar himself endorsed the project at one point of time. Nilekani has also filed a complaint with the Election Commission and the Press Council of India “on the lies and omissions being spread by vested interests and by Ananth Kumar” on the Aadhaar issue. At a campaign meeting, Kumar said: “The Aadhaar card does not address security and socio-economic issues. It gives scope for illegal immigrants and anti-national agents to legally enrol in the system, depriving real beneficiaries. If the BJP comes to power, we will not only scrap it but also undertake an investigation on the spending of several thousand crores of rupees on the project by the UPA government.” Nilekani retaliated through a blogpost saying, “I think the dirty tricks of my opponent makes his desperation apparent. Kumar is trying to gain mileage by abusing a government programme which he was himself promoting only a few months ago. He asked just one question on Aadhaar the entire time he was in Parliament. And now, why this sudden concern?” Kumar has also said the apex court order vindicated BJP’s stand on the issue. “There are too many flaws in the way information is collected under the system and how it may be used exposing citizens to the risk of privacy violation.” But Nilekani countered it saying the Supreme Court’s order on Monday was in response to a plea by the UIDAI itself since the agency did not want to share biometric data for a criminal investigation. Abu Azmi son against Priya, Poonam in Mumbai North Central LUCKNOW The Samajwadi Party has fielded Abu Farhan Azmi, son of Maharashtra MLA Abu Asim Azmi, against Congress candidate Priya Dutt, in Mumbai’s North Central. The BJP has fielded late Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam Mahajan from the seat. The SP has declared 22 candidates for Maharashtra, including controversial film actor Kamal R Khan in Mumbai North West. Farhan Azmi said the decision to contest the election against Priya Dutt was taken after a survey he had conducted favoured his candidature. “The graph of Priya Dutt is going down. She did not stand up when MNS workers thrashed north Indians in her constituency. I am fighting to win the polls,” Farhan told The Indian Express. The SP derives whatever support it has in Mumbai from the north Indians and Muslims there. Farhan said the SP has a base in Mumbai North Central with four nagar sewaks. “In two assembly segments, we got a respectable number of votes last time,” he said. Farhan said that his business establishments, a shoe store and a restaurant, are in the same constituency and he cannot be termed as an outsider.
