Opposition Was Asked To Participate, But They Created Chaos: Law Minister On Passage Of Electoral Reforms Bill

The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill Lok Sabha was passed today amid uproar by the opposition. 

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New Delhi: On the passage of Electoral Reforms Bill, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday said that the Opposition was asked to participate and voice its opinions in the discussion, but leaders created chaos.

Lok Sabha passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill on Monday. Kiren Rijiju stated that currently, it is not mandatory to link Aadhaar to an electoral roll, but with this bill, Centre will make it mandatory to sieve out fake voters, news agency ANI reported. 

“The Parliamentary Standing Committee has recommended this and asked us to expedite the process of making this into an act,” Kiren Rijiju told ANI.

The Union Law Minister said that there should be a proper discussion on election reforms. The Opposition was asked to participate and voice their opinions in the discussion, but they created chaos, he added. 

He further mentioned that “The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill proposes to replace the word ‘wife’ with ‘spouse’ to make the act (Representation of the People Act of 1951) gender-neutral. It will also expand the limits of the election premises acquisition.”

“Even after 18 years, the system said that one has to wait a whole year to exercise their voting rights if they could not register on January 1 (of the year of revision of electoral roll). This bill will allow 4 qualifying dates a year to register as voters,” Kiren Rijiju added. 

The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill Lok Sabha was passed today amid uproar by the opposition. 

The Bill allows electoral registration officers to seek the Aadhaar number of people who want to register as voters “for the purpose of establishing identity.” 

It also permits the electoral registration officers to get Aadhaar numbers from “persons already included in the electoral roll for the purposes of authentication of entries in the electoral roll, and to identify registration of the name of the same person in the electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency.”

(With Agency Inputs)