NEW DELHI, 20 Dec: The Lok Sabha on Monday passed a bill to link electoral roll data with Aadhaar ecosystem amid protest by opposition members over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence issue.
The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, piloted by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, was passed by voice vote after a brief discussion during which some opposition members demanded that it be referred to a parliamentary panel.
Rejecting the demand, Rijiju said that various proposals which are part of the bill have already been suggested and recommended by the Standing Committee of Law and Personnel.
The minister further said that the bill will cleanse the election system. The bill seeks to allow electoral registration officers to seek the Aadhaar number of people who want to register as voters ‘for the purpose of establishing the identity’.
Earlier, while dismissing the apprehensions of the opposition on the bill as “baseless,” the minister said that the opposition members were “misinterpreting” the Supreme Court 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 the government is attempting to stop bogus voting and that is why the House should support the bill. “The bill fully qualifies the Supreme Court judgment,” he said.
However, the opposition parties led by the Congress opposed the bill, saying it would infringe on the fundamental rights of citizens.
Opposing the bill, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded that the bill must be sent to the standing committee concerned for scrutiny.
He claimed that the bill would curb the people’s personal liberty.
“We don’t have the data protection laws. You can’t bulldoze such a bill on people,” he said.
Chowdhury’s party colleague Manish Tewari said voting is a legal right and it is beyond the legislative competence of the Aadhaar Act to be linked with the electoral laws.
Tiwari also claimed that the bill violates the Supreme Court judgement on retired justice KS Puttaswamy case.
On 24 August, 2017, a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous verdict in the Justice (retd) KS Puttaswamy case, affirming that the Constitution guarantees to each individual a fundamental right to privacy.
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that the bill would suppress the people’s right to exercise franchise freely.
Opposing the bill, Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy said the bill goes against the apex court judgement.
Congress member Shashi Tharoor said Aadhaar is meant for the residents of India and all residents are not Indians. “By linking the Aadhaar with the electoral process, we are potentially giving the voting rights to non-citizens,” he said.
Rajendra Agarwal, who was in the chair, accepted the introduction of the bill after taking voice votes.
The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill also seeks to allow the electoral registration officers to ask for Aadhaar numbers 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 constituency.”
At 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 prescribed.”
Such people will be allowed to furnish other documents as may be prescribed.
According to the bill circulated to Lok Sabha members ahead of its introduction, various sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951 will be amended. (PTI)
