The Lok Sabha today passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that aims to give effect to the long-pending electoral reforms including linking Aadhaar with the voter ID card was passed in the Lok Sabha amid din, by voice vote.
The Opposition members strongly opposed the bill and asked the government to take it back. The Bill was passed through a voice vote while several Opposition members, standing in the well of the House, were sloganeering.
The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in the morning. At the time of the introduction of the Bill by Law Minister Kiran Rijiju.
Opposing the introduction of the Bill, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, suggested referring the same to the standing committee for further scrutiny. Opposing the bill, he said this is an infringement on the fundamental right of privacy as enunciated by the Supreme Court. It will lead to mass disenfranchisement, he added.
Another Congress member Manish Tewari said, “The Aaadhar Act does not allow for the linking of Aadhaar with the electoral roll. The Aadhar Act is very explicit. It is an act which is for the targeted delivery of financial and other subsidy benefits and services.”
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi said that this Bill is outside the legislative competence of this House and violates the limits on legislation set by the Supreme Court in Puttaswamy [case]. TMC member Sougata Roy also opposed the introduction of the Bill and said it is against the Supreme Court judgment in the Puttaswamy case.
However, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the opposition members’ arguments against introduction of the Bill are unfounded and they have misinterpreted the Supreme Court’s judgment. Neither they have understood the objective of the Bill correctly, nor their argument is right, Rijiju added.
Rijiju said various proposals which are part of the bill have already been suggested and recommended by the Standing Committee of Law and Personnel. The minister added the bill will cleanse the election system.
The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, is intended to allow electoral registration officers to seek Aadhaar number of those who wish to register as voters “for the purpose of establishing the identity”.
The bill also seeks to allow 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”.
