New Delhi, May 29 (IANS): The Election Commission of India on Friday said it has made it clear that Aadhaar number is not mandatory for exercising the right to cast votes.

In order to avoid confusion among electors and the electoral machinery, the poll panel has issued necessary instructions to the chief electoral officers of states and union territories specifying that furnishing of Aadhaar number by electors is not mandatory and is only optional, an official release said here.

"It has been made amply clear that no electoral service will be denied to any elector on ground of non-furnishing of Aadhaar number," the release said.

The poll panel further said that it has been clarified that collection of Aadhaar number is only for the purpose of authentication of details of elector and confidentiality and security of data so collected must be ensured during the process of feeding and seeding of the same in the electoral roll database.

The commission has launched a National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP), 2015 from March this year with the objective of preparing an error free, purified and authenticated electoral roll.