Lok Sabha passes electoral reforms bill amid din

The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021, piloted by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, was passed by a voice vote after a brief discussion

The Government on Monday got the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 passed by the Lok Sabha amid din, notwithstanding protest by the members of the opposition parties.

The Bill is intended to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Representation of the People Act, 1951. It seeks to create a legal framework for linking electoral roll data with Aadhaar to curb multiple enrolment of the same person as voters in different places. Besides, it seeks to designate April 1, July 1 and October 1 in a calendar year as qualifying dates for enrolment of 18-year-old youngsters as voters, in addition to the existing qualifying date of January 1.

The proposed legislation also seeks to amend Section 20 of the RP Act, 1950 and the Section 60 of the RP Act, 1951 for replacing the word "wife" with the word "spouse" and thus, making the statutes gender neutral.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju introduced the Bill even as the members of the opposition parties were in the Well of the Lok Sabha, protesting against the government and waving placards on multiple issues.

“You cannot bulldoze this kind of a legislative document, which is replete with legal infirmities,” said Adhir Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, opposing introduction of the Bill. He demanded that the Bill should be sent to the parliamentary standing Committee for scrutiny first.

Manish Tiwari of his party said that the Aadhaar Act did not allow for linking of the Aadhaar number to the electoral roll. “The Aadhaar Act is very explicit. It is an Act which is for the targeted delivery of financial and other subsidy benefits and services. Voting is a legal right,” said Tiwari.

N K Premachandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) said that the move to link the electoral roll with Aadhaar would infringe upon the right to privacy and violate Article 21 of the Constitution. Saugata Ray of the Trinamool Congress and Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen pointed out that the Bill was not in sync with the September 26, 2018 order of the Supreme Court.

Rijiju, however, dismissed the argument of the opposition parties against the introduction of the Bill as “baseless”. He said that the Supreme Court’s order was being misinterpreted by the MPs of the opposition parties. He said that the move to link the Aadhaar with the Voter ID cards was aimed at making the electoral rolls credible.

He also pointed out that proposed legislation would not make it mandatory for a citizen to link Aadhaar with the voter ID card and it would remain voluntary.

The Lok Sabha was adjourned for an hour after the Law Minister introduced the Bill amid din. When the House reassembled, the Bill was taken up for consideration at 2:45 pm and was passed by 3:10 pm, despite protest by the opposition MPs, who questioned why the government was in hurry to get the Bill passed without adequate discussion in the Lok Sabha.

The EC had in 2015 launched the National Electoral Law Purification and Authentication Programme to link Aadhaar numbers with the Electoral Photo Identity Cards. But the programme had to be suspended after the Supreme Court on August 11, 2015 ordered that the use of Aadhaar would be optional for availing various welfare schemes of the government and no personal information of the holders of such cards should be shared by any authority.

After the Supreme Court in September 2018 upheld the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act, the EC in August 2019 proposed that the government should amend the election laws to empower Electoral Registration Officers to seek Aadhaar numbers of the existing and the new voters.

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