Election laws (Amendment) bill passed in the Lok Sabha

Nagpur: The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which was introduced by union minister Kiren Rijiju in the Lok Sabha on Monday has been passed by the parliament through voice note.

'The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021' passed in Lok Sabha.

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".

House adjourned till tomorrow, 21st Dec. pic.twitter.com/QjGDjGhl4j
— ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2021

The bill seeks to link Aadhar card with elector’s photo identity cars. The bill was opposed by almost all the opposition parties including Congress, AIMIM, BSP, Shiv Sena and other opposition parties. The opposition claimed that it would be violation of privacy if Aadhar gets linked to electoral card and demanded the rollback of the bill.

Senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor in the Lok Sabha said, “Aadhaar was meant to be proof of residence, not citizenship. If you are asking for an Aadhar card from the voter, all you get is a document that reflects residence. You are potentially giving voting rights to non-citizens.”

The seeding of Aadhar card with voter identity cards will be voluntary as per the right to privacy judgement of the Supreme Court. The project to link Aadhar with voter ID was started by the Election Commission and the main idea was to stop making multiple entries in the electoral rolls and make them completely error-free.

The poll panel had started collecting the Aadhar numbers but the Supreme Court asked to stay on the project in August 2015.