Electoral Reforms Bill Passed In Rajya Sabha Amidst Opposition Walkout

The Bill has the provision of linking electoral rolls with the Aadhaar card.

Representational Image. (Source: Getty Images)

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, to link electoral roll data with Aadhaar even as the Opposition staged a walkout from the House. 

The Opposition parties were demanding a division of votes as they had moved a motion to send the Bill to a select committee. The move was rejected by voice vote. After this, members of Congress, TMC, Left parties, DMK and NCP staged a walkout from the House in protest.

Rajya Sabha approved the Bill after members of BJP, JD(U), YSRCP, AIADMK, BJD supported it, saying it would help in eradicating duplicate and fake votes from the electoral rolls.

The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on Monday amid protests from the Opposition, including the Congress.  

According to a report by IANS, the amendment will allow the Aadhaar number to be used for voter registration "for the purpose of establishing the identity." By replacing the word "wife" with "spouse," the amendment also intends to include gender-neutral words into the Representation of the People Act.

Opposition Claims The Bill Will Infringe On Citizen's Basic Rights

The bill was opposed by opposition groups led by Congress on Monday, who claimed it would infringe on citizens' basic rights.

Opposing the bill, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed that the bill will curb the people's personal liberty.

"It's against Puttaswamy's judgment. Govt doesn't have legislative competence to make such laws. Aadhar has 1.5% more mistakes than the voter list. This law is against Universal suffrage," said AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

Electoral Reforms Bill 

In defence of the bill, Union Minister Rijju said, "For the election process to be clean, electoral rolls need to be clean. This step will sieve fake voters, Aadhaar card linking to electoral rolls would not be mandatory, but voluntary. It's good for an eligible common man."

The amendment specified 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 the inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed,” reported by the Hindu. 

Officers would be able to request Aadhaar numbers from those who were previously registered for the purpose of authenticating entries in the electoral roll under the amendment.

People who are unable to provide their Aadhaar number at this time would be permitted to present alternative papers to prove their identification.

Section 14 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 was altered to contain four qualifying dates for registration of eligible voters in the electoral roll, according to the Bill sent to Lok Sabha members before of its introduction. Previously, the sole eligible date was January 1st of each year.

According to the source, the modification now includes four eligible dates: January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1.