India, March 12 -- Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed officials to make "all attempts" to link Aadhaar numbers with electoral roll data, according to a note circulated to Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) in all states and Union Territories, the Hindustan Times has learnt.

The instruction was included in a document titled "opening remarks of CEC (chief election commissioner) (at) the CEOs conference March 4," which was later distributed to all CEOs, who were then asked to circulate it among district election officers.

The note quoted chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as saying: "In order to ensure proper identification of electors and ensure necessary communication, all attempts should be made to link with Aadhaar and...