The government on Monday ensured passage of the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha by a voice vote amid din and slogans protesting at the linking the voter card with Aadhaar Card. Several opposition members were sloganeering in the well of the House at the time of the Bill's introduction in the morning and its passage.
The Bill was piloted by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju. Some opposition members demanded that it be referred to a parliamentary panel for scrutiny. Rejecting the demand for referring the Bill to a panel, Rijiju said various proposals which are part of the Bill have already been suggested and recommended by the Standing Committee of Law and Personnel. The minister further said that the Bill will cleanse the election system and eliminate multiple entries.
Rijiju said the government wanted a full debate on the Bill but could not do so because of the uproar in the House. The minister said that the Bill, which is gender neutral and has four qualifying dates for entry into electoral roll, is in consonance with the Supreme Court's ruling.
The Bill seeks to allow electoral registration officers to seek Aadhaar number of people who want to register as voters "for the purpose of establishing the identity". It also seeks to allow the electoral registration officers to ask for Aadhaar number from "persons already included in the electoral roll for the purposes of authentication of entries in electoral roll, and to identify registration of name of the same person in the electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency".
At the same time, the amendment Bill makes it clear that "no application for inclusion of name in the electoral roll shall be denied and no entries in the electoral roll shall be deleted for inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed".
Amendment to Section 20 of the RP Act, 1950 and Section 60 of the RP Act, 1951 will allow the elections become gender neutral for service voters. The amendment will also help replace the word "wife" with the word "spouse" making the statutes "gender neutral".
Opposing the introduction of the Bill, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “I do oppose the introduction of the Bill under The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and simultaneously demanding that the legislative document should be referred to the concerned Standing Committee for further scrutiny given the fact that this is an infringement on the fundamental right of privacy as enunciated by the Supreme Court. It will lead to mass disenfranchisement. That’s why we are demanding that this Bill should be referred to the standing committee,” he said.
Another Congress member, Manish Tewari, said that the Bill was “beyond the legislative competence” of the government. This will cause great harm to the democracy of India, he said. “The Aadhaar Act does not allow for the linking of Aadhaar with the electoral roll. The Aadhaar Act is very explicit. It is an Act which is for the targeted delivery of financial and other subsidy benefits and services. Voting is a legal right… Therefore, the Aadhaar Act is beyond the legislative competence of this Bill. Therefore, we oppose the introduction of this Bill,” Tewari said.
