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The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, 21 December, a day after the contentious bill was passed in the Lok Sabha amid clamorous protests by the Opposition MPs.
The bill, which seeks to amend the Representation of the People Act, provides for the linking of voter IDs with Aadhaar on a voluntary basis, "for the purposes of authentication of entries in electoral roll."
Opposition members, who have contested the bill, have insisted that the legislation will infringe upon the privacy of the voters and potentially give voting privileges to non-citizens.
What does the bill propose to do? What will be its benefits? What are the Opposition's concerns? Here's what we know.
The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 proposes that the electoral registration officers can ask for people’s Aadhaar number trying to register as voters in order to establish their identity.
The bill will also allow officers to ask for 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."
As per the current provision, only those turning 18 years of age (or higher) on or before 1 January of the year are allowed to register as voters in that year.
Further, the electoral reforms bill intends to make the voting law gender-neutral for service voters. Presently, while an army man’s wife is entitled to be enrolled as a service voter, a woman army officer’s husband is not.
The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 seeks to prevent multiple enrolments of the same individual, thereby sieving out fake voters.
Further, the provision for multiple cut-off dates for registration is expected to lead to an increased enrolment of eligible voters.
"The bill proposes to replace the word 'wife' with 'spouse' to make the act (Representation of the People Act of 1951) gender-neutral. It'll also expand the limits of the election premises acquisition," said Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, as per news agency ANI.
Rijiju said on Tuesday:
The Opposition has contended that allowing the linkage of Aadhaar card to the voter ID would enable non-Indian citizens to cast votes in the elections.
Declaring his opposition to the bill, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had said in the Lok Sabha,
Meanwhile, Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, had recommended for the bill to be sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. He had remarked that the bill has a lot of legal drawbacks.
Further, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Asaduddin Owaisi had said that the bill will allow the government to "profile and disenfranchise" voters.
"The Bill is outside the legislative competence of the House as it violates the limits on legislation set by the Supreme Court in its judgment. The linking of voter IDs and AADHAAR violates the fundamental right to privacy as defined by Supreme Court in its judgment. The House is not competent to enact a law that violates the fundamental rights of citizens," he had said in a notice submitted in the Lok Sabha.
Further opposing the bill, Owaisi said on Tuesday:
The bill was passed by a voice vote amid vehement protests from the Opposition.
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