Amid Oppn protest, Lok Sabha passes Bill linking electoral rolls to Aadhaar

A Bill to link electoral roll data with Aadhaar ecosystem was passed in Lok Sabha on Monday after a brief debate amid continuous protest by opposition members over various issues including the Lakhimpur Kheri violenceThe Election Laws Amendment Bill 2021 piloted by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju was passed by a voice vote after a brief discussion during which some opposition members demanded that it be referred to a parliamentary panel for scrutinyAfter the Bills passage Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day amid continuous protest by opposition membersRejecting the demand for referring the Bill to a panel Rijiju said various proposals which are part of the bill have already been suggested and recommended by the Standing Committee of Law and PersonnelThe minister further said that the bill will cleanse the election system and eliminate multiple entriesHe further said the government wanted a full debate on the Bill but could not do so because of the uproar in the HouseThe minister said that the Bill which is gender neutral and has four qualifying dates for entry into electoral roll is in consonance with the Supreme Courts rulingMost of the opposition members demanded that the Bill may be referred to the standing committee for scrutiny and detailed deliberationsLeader of Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Supriya Sule of the NCP wondered why this important Bill was being pushed in a tearing hurry by the governmentMany opposition members suggested for garnering public opinion on such an important legislationThis is no way to pass a legislation and there should be a proper debate and discussion on this said N K Premchandran of the RSPOthers who opposed the Bill included Ritesh Pandey BSP Kalyan Banerjee TMC Asaduddin Owaisi AIMIM and E T Mohammed BasheerThe Bill seeks to allow electoral registration officers to seek Aadhaar number of people who want to register as voters for the purpose of establishing the identityIt also seeks to allow the electoral registration officers to ask for Aadhaar number from persons already included in the electoral roll for the purposes of authentication of entries in electoral roll and to identify registration of name of the same person in the electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituencyAt the same time the amendment Bill makes it clear 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 inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribedSuch people will be allowed to furnish other alternative documents as may be prescribedAccording to the Bill circulated to Lok Sabha members ahead of its introduction various sections of the Representation of the People Act will be amendedThe Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill states that Section 23 of the RP Act will be amended to allow linking of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem to curb the menace of multiple enrolment of the same person in different placesAmendment to Section 14 of the RP Act will allow to have four qualifying dates for eligible people to register as votersAs of now January 1 of every year is the sole qualifying datePeople who turn 18 on or before January 1 can register as voters Those turning 18 after that have to wait for one whole year to register as votersNow the 1st day of January 1st day of April 1st day of July and 1st day of October in a calendar year will be the qualifying dates in relation to the preparation or revision of electoral rollsAmendment to Section 20 of the RP Act 1950 and Section 60 of the RP Act 1951 will allow the elections become gender neutral for service votersThe amendment will also help replace the word wife with the word spouse making the statutes gender neutralAn Armymans wife is entitled to be enrolled as a service voter but a woman Army officers husband is not according to provisions in the electoral law With wife being replaced by the term spouse this will changeEight people including four farmers were killed in violence in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh in OctoberThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever