New Delhi: The Union Government on Monday introduced the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Lok Sabha and the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha after much opposition from Congress MPs. There is a provision in the bill to link the voter list with the Aadhar card. Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju introduced further amendments to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
According to an IANS report, the amendment will allow Aadhaar numbers to be used for registration of voters “for the purpose of establishing identity”. The amendment aims to introduce gender-neutral terms in the Representation of the People Act by replacing the word “wife” with “spouse”.
Terming the opposition’s apprehensions on the bill as baseless, Rijiju said the opposition members were misinterpreting the Supreme Court’s judgment on personal liberty.
“The opposition has not understood the objectives of the bill. This will make the election process more credible,” he said.
The minister said that the government was trying to prevent bogus voting and hence the House should support the bill.
However, Congress-led opposition parties opposed the bill, saying it would violate the fundamental rights of citizens.
Opposing the bill, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded that the bill be sent to the concerned standing committee for examination.
He claimed that the bill would curtail the personal liberty of the people.
“We don’t have data protection laws. You can’t bulldoze a bill like this on people,” he said.
As reported by The Hindu, this change was made to remove discrimination against male spouses and female armed service employees.
The amendment specified that “No application for inclusion of name in the electoral roll shall be rejected and no entry in the electoral roll shall be deleted for the inability of any person to furnish Aadhaar number or inform due to sufficient reason as may be prescribed.” Told Hindu.
The amendment will allow the authorities to ask for Aadhaar numbers from those who were already registered for the purpose of authentication of entries in the electoral rolls.
Those who will not be able to present their Aadhaar number at this point of time will be allowed to produce other documents to prove their identity.
Prior to the amendment in Section 14 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, four qualifying dates for registration of eligible voters in the electoral roll were amended as per the Bill circulated to the members of the Lok Sabha. Earlier January 1 of every year was the qualifying date.
As per the amendment there will now be four qualifying dates According to the report, 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October.
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