Aadhaar is a unique 12-digit identification number allocated to individuals upon submission of their application, inclusive of their demographic and biometric information. The Aadhaar number, issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), serves as a lifelong identity for residents. Notably, even if an individual updates their personal information in Aadhaar, the assigned 12-digit number remains unchanged.
But have you ever wondered if it’s possible to cancel an Aadhaar card? If you also have this question in your mind, let’s find out the answer together.
Before we learn how to cancel an Aadhaar card, let’s explore the situations in which individuals consider cancelling their Aadhaar.
- Details in Aadhaar is Incorrect
- Picture not not up to mark or not satisfied with the photo on Aadhaar
- Mobile Number lost, or mobile number not registered
- Don’t want to possess Aadhaar anymore due to fear it could be misuse
The reasons could be numerous, but the above are some of the common reasons triggered.
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How to Cancel Aadhar Card
Currently, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) does not possess any established policy or provision for deactivating, cancelling, or surrendering an Aadhaar card in the event that an individual wishes to do so.
As per the Aadhaar Amendment Act 2016 Section 3A (2), Aadhaar can be cancelled under following circumstance:
A child who is an Aadhaar number holder may, within a period of six months of attaining the eighteen years of age, make an application to the Authority for cancellation of his Aadhaar number, in such manner as may be specified by regulations and the Authority shall cancel his Aadhaar number.
Which mean’s, A child who possesses an Aadhaar number has the option, within six months of turning eighteen, to formally apply to the relevant Authority for the cancellation of their Aadhaar number. The application process shall adhere to the regulations and guidelines established by the Authority. Subsequently, the Authority will proceed with the cancellation of the individual’s Aadhaar number as per the prescribed procedures.
Aadhar Card Cancellation Process
If you are an Aadhaar holder who has attended 18 Years and you are under six months of attending 18, then you may follow the below Aadhar Card Cancellation Process to get your Aadhaar Number Cancelled.
To cancel Aadhaar under following circumstance, the Aadhaar holder will need to write an application for the cancellation of Aadhaar. Below is the format of the Aadhar Card Cancellation Form.
Aadhar Card Cancellation Form
SCHEDULE VI
Format for application by resident for Aadhaar Cancellation on attaining the age of eighteen years
[(Under sub-section 2 of Section 3-A of Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, as amended vide “the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019 (No. 14 of 2019)”]
[Refer Regulation 27(1)(c) of these Regulations]
| 1 | Aadhaar No./EID No. | |
| 2 | Name | |
| 3 | Gender | |
| 4 | Parent’s name | |
| 5 | Address | |
| 6 | Date of Birth | |
| 7 | Mobile | |
| 8 | Choice of one Regional Office for authentication (Please choose one out of Delhi/ Chandigarh/ Mumbai/ Lucknow/ Hyderabad/ Guwahati/ Ranchi/ Bengaluru) | |
| 9 | Declaration | In terms of sub-section 2 of Section 3-A of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, as amended vide The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019 (No. 14 of 2019). I hereby State that I want to get my Aadhaar number cancelled. I also affirm the details given above are true, correct and accurate and pertain to me. I also confirm that I am making this application within six months of : (a) Attaining the age of eighteen years; or (b) Notification of Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) (Eighth Amendment) Regulations, 2020 (having attained the age of eighteen years after 26th September, 2018 and before the date of such notification). |
| 10 | Signature/ Thumb Impression | |
| 11 | Place | |
| 12 | Date |
Fill the Aadhar Card Cancellation Form with your details in the above format.
Take a printout of it.
Sign on the form, and submit the form enclosing a photocopy of your Aadhaar Card to Regional Authority Office.
The application needs to reach the Regional Office within a period of six months from the date of attaining the age of eighteen years.
Upon receipt of the application, the resident shall require to visit the regional office at stipulated date and time for establishing their identity through Aadhaar authentication or any other means as prescribed by the authority.
Upon establishment of identity of the resident, the Regional Office will initiate the process of cancellation of the Aadhaar Number, which shall be cancelled within a period of three months.
Upon cancellation, services which are provided by Authority to the Aadhaar Number holder will be permanently disabled.
Please note that after the successful cancellation of your Aadhaar number, any associated benefits and services linked to your Aadhaar will no longer be available to you. If you wish to avail Aadhaar services again in the future, you may need to re-enrol and obtain a new Aadhaar number.
In case you are considering to Cancel Aadhar Card due to inaccuracies or errors present in it, it is recommended to rectify those errors by updating your Aadhaar card online or by visiting the nearest Aadhaar Seva Kendra
If concerns arise regarding potential misuse of your biometric data stored in the Aadhaar database, it is possible to enhance security by opting to lock your biometric information online. By doing so, you retain the ability to unlock your biometric data whenever necessary for verification purposes.
How to Cancel Duplicate Aadhaar Card
According to the prevailing guidelines, an individual is eligible to apply for an Aadhaar card only once. Consequently, any attempt to submit a second application for Aadhaar, even if one already possesses an Aadhaar card, will result in rejection of the request. However, in exceptional circumstances where a second Aadhaar card has been mistakenly issued, it becomes necessary to cancel the duplicate Aadhaar card.
In the event that an individual has been issued multiple Aadhaar cards, the UIDAI system will promptly identify and nullify the duplicate entries. Subsequently, upon detection of duplicate Aadhaar cards and their subsequent cancellation, the concerned Aadhaar holders will receive a notification on their registered mobile numbers stating “Aadhar card is cancelled being duplicate. Resident shall use valid aadhar” or “aadhaar cancelled being a duplicate. resident shall use valid aadhaar.”, informing them of the cancellation due to duplication. The notification will advise the individual to utilize their valid Aadhaar card for all necessary purposes.
If the duplicate or multiple Aadhaar is till active then In such case the Aadhaar holder needs to get in touch with the nearest Aadhaar Kendra regarding this issue and get one Aadhaar Cancelled. The Aadhar card cancellation form will be available at the Aadhaar Seva Kendra, you need to fill in details asked in the aadhar card cancellation form, enclose the Aadhaar Card which needs to be cancelled and submit it. If you are not getting proper response from Seva Kendra then you need to contact the UIDAI Helpdesk by visiting the official UIDAI Website.
Other than the above reasons, Aadhaar may also get cancelled under regulation 27 or deactivated under regulation 28. So lets get to know what are the reasons for cancellation of Aadhaar under regulation 27 and Aadhaar deactivated under regulation 28.
Aadhaar Card Cancelled Under Regulation 27
| If it is established that more than one Aadhaar numbers have been issued to the same person, then the Aadhaar number assigned from the earlier enrollment shall be retained, and all subsequent Aadhaar numbers shall be cancelled. |
| Where the Aadhaar Number has been generated in violation of the prescribed guidelines: Photo on Photo: Case where core biometric information is available. Where an existing photograph at the enrollment center, and where core biometric information has not been captured during enrollment, the resident’s Aadhaar number shall be cancelled. False Biometric Exception Cases: Where the enrollment has been wrongly carried out as a ‘biometric exception’ case, the Aadhaar number shall be cancelled. Where an adult has been enrolled as a child below five years of age to avoid capturing of biometric information, Aadhaar number shall be cancelled. Any other case requiring cancellation owing to the enrollment appearing fraudulent to the Authority. |
Aadhaar Deactivated Under Regulation 28
| “Photo on Photo” and core biometric information is available: Where an existing photograph is used instead of capturing a fresh photograph at the enrollment center, and where core biometric information of resident has been captured, the Aadhaar number shall be de-activated, and the resident asked to update his photograph. Upon successful update of his photograph, the Aadhaar number may be re-activated. |
| “False Partial Biometric Exception” cases: Where certain attributes constituting biometric information have not been captured despite the resident being in a position them, the Aadhaar number shall be de-activated. |
| Where it is found at a later stage that enrollment has been carried out without valid supporting documents, the Aadhaar number shall be deactivated till it is updated by the Aadhaar Number holder after furnishing valid supporting documents. |
| Where the information captured has been flagged as having bad data and requiring update (such as mixed/anomalous biometrics information, abusive/expletive words and unparliamentary language in resident demographics, multiple names in single name using urf or Alias), the Aadhaar number shall be deactivated till it is updated by Aadhaar holder. |
| Where a child having attained the age of five or fifteen years of age fails to update his biometrics information within two years of attaining such age, his Aadhaar number shall be deactivated. In cases where such update has not been carried out at the expiry of one year after deactivation, the Aadhaar Number shall be omitted. |
| Any other case requiring deactivation as deemed appropriate by the Authority |
Delete Aadhaar from mAadhaar App
If you have installed the mAadhaar App on your phone and have set it up with your Aadhaar. But now you want to delete the created profile then you can follow the below steps.
- To delete your Aadhaar profile, click on the menu which is displayed at the top of the app screen
- Tap on delete profile option
- And your profile from the app will be deleted
How to Cancel Aadhaar Update Request Online
If you wish to cancel Aadhaar Update Request Online which you recently submitted, then it cannot be cancelled in any terms. However if the update request is still not submitted and its in draft mode then it can be cancelled.
To Cancel Aadhaar Update Request Online, follow the below instructions.
Visit the Official UIDAI Website https://uidai.gov.in/
Select the language of your preference
From the UIDAI Homepage, click on the Update Demographics Data & Check Status
MyAadhaar page will welcome you, from this page click on Login button
Enter your Aadhaar Number, solve the captcha code and click on the Send OTP button
One Time Password will be sent on your registered mobile number
Enter the received OTP in the enter OTP field and click on the login button
Scroll down the services page, and under the requests section you will be able to access all the update requests and other requests placed by you
If any of your update request is not submitted or under draft then it can be deleted by click on the trash icon button appearing under delete section against the update request
On clicking the delete icon, it will confirm you whether you want to actually delete the update request draft click on Okay to confirm and the draft of update request will be cancelled
A message will also appear stating “Request Cancelled Successfully”
You cannot delete the already submitted update requests.
No, Aadhaar cannot be cancelled.
Aadhaar Card cannot be deleted from the UIDAI server. Although you can delete it from your device if you have downloaded the PDF version or mAadhaar on your phone.
Once updating Aadhaar, there isn’t need to cancel old Aadhar Card as the details will be updated against the same Aadhaar Number.
As of now there isn’t any facility offered by UIDAI which allows to cancel Aadhar Card after death or deactivate the Aadhaar of deceased person.
If i have enrolled for aadhar can i cancel it before it active if i can hoe to possible?
what is the procedure to cancel the aadhaar card pls do guide me as in i dont require the same
If you are not 18 and you wise to delete your Aadhaar, You can do so within 6 months of attaining the majority by filing a application. Refer Aadhaar act for more information.
I need cancel my adharcard