Cabinet Clears Bill On Electoral Reforms. Aadhaar-Linked Voter IDs, 1st Time Voters Can Register 4 Times

The much-awaited announcement comes after the Election Commission of India (ECI) wrote to the government seeking electoral reforms in the country.

(Representative Image/Getty)

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill on electoral reforms, including seeding of Aadhaar with voter ID cards, news agency PTI reported.  One to link the electoral roll with Aadhaar will be done on a voluntary basis to root out multiple enrolments.

Additionally, another provision of the bill passed by the Cabinet will allow first-time voters to enroll as voters on four different dates every year. As of now, those turning 18 on or before January 1 of every year are only allowed to register as voters.

The bill on these reforms cleared on Wednesday is likely to be introduced in the ongoing Winter session.

The much-awaited announcement comes after the Election Commission of India (ECI) wrote to the government seeking electoral reforms in the country. EC has been pushing for multiple cut-off dates to allow more eligible people to register as voters.

The EC had told the government that the January 1 cut-off date set for the purpose deprives several youngsters from participating in the electoral exercise held in a particular year.

According to the bill cleared by the cabinet, the electoral law will be made gender-neutral for service voters.

An army man's wife is entitled to be enrolled as a service voter, but a woman army officer's husband is not, according to provisions in the electoral law. But this may change once the bill gets Parliament's nod.

The Election Commission had asked the Law Ministry to replace the term wife' with spouse' in the provision in the Representation of the People Act related to service voters.

EC had reportedly proposed to the government to amend provisions of the Representation of the People Act to allow the poll body to ask for Aadhaar numbers of the first-time voters and those who are already part of the electoral rolls.

The decision comes at a time when Assembly elections are due in several states next year, including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.