The Electoral Reform Bill passes the Rajya Sabha today despite the opposition’s demand to send it to Select Committee. Once again one more bill passes the House with the Voice Vote. Similarly, yesterday the bill passed the Lok Sabha too. Parties in support of the bill include BJP, JD(U), YSRCP, AIADMK, BJD, and TMC-M. The Bill was tabled by the Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju. As told by the Center The aim of the bill is to eradicate duplicate and fake voters from the electoral rolls.
However, the members of the opposition parties like Congress, TMC, NCP, DMK staged a walkout in protest against the Bill. Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha quotes, “It’s a Mockery of our Democracy.” He also says that Modi Government has passed the Bill without any debate and discussion. The Bill is in violation of SC Puttaswamy Judgement and will lead to mass disenfranchisement.
Electoral Law Reform Bill Details:
Firstly the Electoral Reform Bill 2021 seeks to allow electoral registration officers to seek the Aadhaar number of people, who want to register as voters “for the purpose of establishing identity.” Secondly, the Bill seeks to allow the Electoral registration officers to get Aadhaar numbers from “persons already included in the electoral roll and to identify registration of the same person in the electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency.”
The Center says these reforms will give a detailed overview of how the proposed changes will benefit the electoral system. Registration is done based on the application by a person who is eligible to be registered as a Voter. Under a provision of the Bill, the new applicant may choose to provide Aadhaar number along with the application for the purpose of identity. Certainly, no applications will be rejected on the grounds of not providing Aadhaar number. Aadhaar linking with the Electoral roll will root out many enrollments of the same person at different places. Once the Aadhaar is linked the electoral roll data will alert the existence of previous registration if a person applies for new registration.