Election Laws Amendment Bill 2021 which include the linking of Aadhaar to voter IDs was passed in Lok Sabha through a voice vote amid Opposition protests.
Election Laws Amendment Bill 2021 is introduced by the Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju. The Bill seeks to link Aadhaar with the Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC).
Congress, AIMIM, BSP and other opposition parties opposed the Election Laws Amendment Bill 2021.
Election Laws Amendment Bill 2021 is set for a Rajya Sabha debate today. With the opposition raising a strong protest and demanding a review, the government has detailed its arguments in a note.
Highlights of Election Laws Amendment Bill 2021:
✍️ Registration in the electoral roll is done based on an application by a person who is eligible to be registered as a voter.
✍️ This bill has a provision whereby the new applicant may voluntarily provide Aadhaar number along with the application for the purpose of identity.
✍️ No application will be rejected if the Aadhaar number is not been provided.
✍️ Aadhaar linking with electoral will solve one of the major problems such as multiple enrolments of the same person at different places in the electoral database management. This may be due to the frequent shifting of residence by electors and getting enrolled in the new place without deleting the previous enrolment.
✍️ The possibility of electors whose names appear in more than one electoral roll or at times more than once in the same electoral roll can be removed.
✍️ Once the Aadhaar linkage is achieved, the electoral roll data system will instantly alert the existence of previous registration(s) whenever a person applies for new registration. This will help in cleaning the electoral roll to a great extent and will facilitate elector registration in the location at which they are ‘ordinarily resident’.
✍️ The Opposition claimed that it would be a violation of the Constitutional rights of citizens and would violate their right to privacy if Aadhaar is connected to the electoral rolls.