How did the Aadhaar helpline enter your cell phones without your consent?

On Friday, a section of the public was alarmed to find that the official Aadhaar helpline had found its way into the contact list of several smartphones, by default. The issue was first pointed out by French hacker Robert Baptiste, who goes by the alias Elliot Alderson on Twitter, who tweeted: Tweeted comedian Jose Covaco, in response, "Very interesting. This contact is in neither of my sim card contacts (vodafone/jio) ..but it is somehow in my google contacts and phone storage contacts.. have never used maadhaar app (myvodafone & myjio apps are installed)."

Other users posted screenshots of the UIDAI helpline which they had not saved on their phones, expressing concern and confusion over the same. Tweeted snior journalist Barkha Dutt, "Wow I found this in my phone contacts as well. How can a third person enter a phone number in my contacts without my consent and how is the service provider permitting this? UIDAI??"

The UIDAI has not yet released an official statement on the same.

Earlier, alleged personal details of India's telecom watchdog chief R.S. Sharma were leaked on Saturday after the TRAI chairman threw a challenge and tweeted his 12-digit Aadhaar, asking if that had made him vulnerable to any security risk.