According to the government, the Parliamentary Standing Committee had recommended this to be done in March this year. Law Minister Kiren Rijiju says it is voluntary. No one will be compelled to do so. According to him, several meetings were also held between the government and the Election Commission on this issue. Only after that this bill was brought.
Recently, the Rajya Sabha passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 by voice vote. With this, the Parliament got consent to link the voter list with the Aadhar card. Lok Sabha had passed it a day earlier. There was a lot of opposition from the opposition about this, while the government said that doing so is included in the long-pending election reforms. The government had said that after linking the Aadhar card with the voter list, it would become impossible for the same person to be included in the voter list at multiple places. As soon as he registers in the voter list at any place, the Aadhaar number will show that he has already got himself registered in the voter list. With this, a person will be able to add name in the voter list at one place.
According to the government, the Parliamentary Standing Committee had recommended this to be done in March this year. Law Minister Kiren Rijiju says it is voluntary. No one will be compelled to do so. According to him, several meetings were also held between the government and the Election Commission on this issue. Only after that this bill was brought. However, in March 2015, the Election Commission had started the work of purifying the electoral rolls to prevent this duplication. In this regard, the Election Commission has issued a letter to the election officers of the states asking them not to force any voter to add his Aadhar card in the voter list as this step is voluntary.
It should be noted that in the same year, the Supreme Court had said that the step of adding Aadhar card in the voter list cannot be made mandatory until the court gives its decision in this regard. On November 16 this year, the Law Ministry said that the Election Commission, in consultation with the Prime Minister’s Office, has finalized some electoral reforms. In this regard, the Congress says that linking Aadhaar with the voter list violates the fundamental right to privacy, as has been clarified by the Supreme Court in one of its decisions. On the other hand, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asasuddin Owaisi argued that by doing so, the government may take away the voting rights of some citizens. This bill comes outside the authority of this house. Anyway, this is a violation of the right to privacy.
Rijiju said that there are some shortcomings in the existing legal provisions. The government has decided to make some amendments in consultation with the Election Commission. For this, amendments have to be made in the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Representation of the People Act, 1957. According to the Representation of the People Act 1950, any citizen can add his name in the voter list and the concerned officer can ask him for his Aadhar card so that his identity can be established. At the same time, some people say that this should happen only when there are reports of fake voting or someone has voted more than once.
The opposition says that after linking Aadhaar with the voter list, people who are not citizens will be able to vote anyway. Some people said that Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship. People who are not citizens of India can also have Aadhar card. On the other hand, the CPI(M) says that this will help the government to know which voter has voted for whom and the principle of secret ballot will end. At the same time, some argue that having more than one identity card will increase the problems for the people. Anyway, when someone goes to vote, he is identified through the voter card. Therefore, by preparing a list of people through Aadhaar, political action can be taken against them. This is against the election code of conduct.
In April 2019, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had filed a police complaint that a Hyderabad-based software company had illegally obtained details of 7.82 lakh Aadhaar holders. The government handed over the matter to the SIT. But there is no news of progress in his investigation.
