Bhubaneswar, Aug. 2 -- The Election Commission of India has launched a nationwide drive to link voter identity (ID) cards with Aadhaar numbers from Monday.

The nation's top poll body has asked chief electoral officers of all states to undertake the initiative to ensure "clean and transparent" electoral rolls and remove all duplications.

While some states like Maharashtra have already started the drive, many others are yet to activate the linking process.

Even though the government has clarified that the sharing of Aadhaar details will be voluntary, voters will have to give sufficient reason for not linking the unique identification number to their voter ID cards.

Notably, in June earlier this year, the government amended the Registrat...