Hyderabad: Independent researcher Srinivas Kodali has written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Telangana, stating that electoral roll or voter photos from the ECI’s database that was shared with the state government were misused of electoral roll photographs for its deployment of facial recognition applications using Real Time Digital Authentication of Identity (RTDAI).
“The Government of Telangana has developed the Real Time Digital Authentication of Identity (RTDAI) , a facial recognition system. This system relies on electoral roll photographs and demographic details to conduct AI/ML/deep learning–based facial recognition. This system was first used to verify pensioners in Telangana and later expanded everywhere else,” said Kodali in his letter to the Telangana CEO and the ECI.
In his complaint, he also attached data as evidence to prove that electoral roll or voter data was shared between the Election Commission and the Telangana government. “I have filed a complaint with the CEO Telangana, Election Commission of India on how Government of Telangana used photographs from Electoral Rolls to build a facial recognition/AI system. This has happened because ECI has shared our data during Aadhaar Voter ID linking exercise,” wrote Kodali on X after posting about the issue.
He stated that the RTDAI was also used for a pilot in the electoral context for voter identification at polling stations during municipal elections by Telangana State Election Commission earlier. Kodali also claimed that live photographs of voters were matched against photographs drawn from electoral rolls shared by the CEO with the Government of Telangana.
“This identification system has now become a general purpose system that is being used by Telangana’s Department of Transport, Department of Education and for any other purpose as deemed necessary by Telangana Government. A document from the Government of Telangana uploaded on Dr Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development, Institute of Telangana describes this system. Documents obtained from Right to Information (Annexure 2) from Government of Telangana give a confirmation Government of Telangana has used photographs from Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) for building this facial recognition system,” stated Srinivas Kodali in his complaint to the ECI.
His complaint comes at a time when the ECI’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar has caused a furore over fake voters being enrolled in the electoral rolls. In fact, in Telangana, there were thousands of complaints of name deletions from the voter rolls during the 2018 state elections and later the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. This happened in wake of the ECI then under Rajat Kumar deleting at least 22 lakh names from the electoral rolls. Activists then claimed that it had happened due to improper verification.
In his complaint, Srinivas Kodali also said that documents obtained from Election Commission of India (Annexure 3), confirm the Telangana CEO did share all the EPIC data to the government’s State Resident Data Hub during NERP-AP (National Electoral Roll Purification – Authentication Programme) of 2015, carried out in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The voter name deletions that caused a controversy in 2018 here were carried out via NERP.
“The NERP-AP was stopped by the Supreme Court of India and these instructions were communicated to your office through letter No. 23/1/2015(NERPAP)-ERS dated: 13th August, 2015 by Narendra N Butolia, Secretary, Election Commission of India. Yet, by then your office has shared all the information to the Government of Telangana and deleted several voters without due process affecting the Telangana General Assembly Elections of 2018,” Kodali stated.
He further said that “this systematic disenfranchisement caused by unknown government systems” aside, the CEO Telangana’s office never addressed the issue of privacy violations that took place during NERP-AP. Kodali claimed that violations are still being continued by the Telangana government and added that the usage of EPIC photographs for facial recognition is a violation of Representation of People’s Act, 1950.
Using the electoral roll photos for facial recognition is “patently unlawful”, the researcher said and called to cease immediately the sharing of electoral roll data, including voter photographs, with the Telangana government or any external agency. He further demanded the CEO to conduct an audit and demand deletion of all EPIC photographs with any other external agencies other than the CEO’ office here.
“Provide, within 15 days, a written explanation of the legal authority under which your office shared electoral roll data with the Government of Telangana,” stated his letter.
