The Telangana government developed a facial recognition system, the Real Time Digital Authentication of Identity, which relied on electoral roll photographs and demographic details to conduct Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning/Deep Learning-based facial recognition.
Published Sep 09, 2025 | 12:01 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 09, 2025 | 12:01 PM
The photographs from the electoral rolls, which the Election Commission had shared with the government, were initially used to verify pensioners in Telangana, and later employed for other purposes.
Synopsis: Documents received under the Right to Information Act confirmed that the state government has been using photographs from Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) to build the facial recognition system. The Election Commission, he said, shared the EPIC data with the government during the National Electoral Roll Purification – Authentication Programme of 2015.
The Telangana government is misusing and unlawfully sharing details, including demographic and voters’ photographs from electoral rolls, it has been alleged.
In a letter to the state Chief Electoral Officer, C Sudarshan Reddy, cyber expert Srinivas Kodali said the government had developed a facial recognition system, the Real Time Digital Authentication of Identity (RTDAI). The system, he said, relied on electoral roll photographs and demographic details to conduct Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning/Deep Learning-based facial recognition.
Kodali said the system was to be used for a pilot by the Election Commission to identify voters at polling stations during the local body elections.
The photographs from the electoral rolls, which the Election Commission had shared with the government, were initially used to verify pensioners in Telangana, and later employed for other purposes, he alleged.
“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 the Telangana Government,” Kodali noted in the letter.
He added that documents received under the Right to Information Act confirmed that the state government has been using photographs from Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) to build the facial recognition system. The Election Commission, he said, shared the EPIC data with the government during the National Electoral Roll Purification – Authentication Programme (NERP-AP) of 2015.
Kodali said the Supreme Court had stopped the NERP-AP, and it was duly communicated to the state Election Commission. Still, the Election Commission went ahead and shared information with the government, which he alleged, deleted several voters without due forces, affecting the state Assembly election in 2018.
“Even after this systematic disenfranchisement caused by unknown government systems, your office never addressed the issue of privacy violations that took place during NERP-AP, which are being continued by the Government of Telangana,” he said.
The usage of EPIC photographs for facial recognition is a violation of the Representation of the People’s Act, 1950. The Act and associated rules empower Electoral Officers to collect and maintain voter rolls solely for electoral purposes. They do not authorise sharing with state governments or use for facial recognition,” Kodali said.
“Such actions are patently unlawful. Beyond this, the entire process violates the fundamental rights of all registered voters in Telangana by repurposing electoral photographs and is an infringement on the right to privacy,” he said.
Kodali further raised five demands to the Election Commission:
