Amid protest by opposition leaders, the Lok Sabha passed The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, today on December 20, for the linking of Aadhaar card with the voter IDs. Touted as an electoral reforms bill, this amendment bill seeks to allow the electoral registration officers to get Aadhaar numbers from “persons already included in the electoral roll for the purposes of authentication of entries in the electoral roll, and to identify registration of the name of the same person in the electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency”.

The bill was tabled earlier today in the parliament amid uproar. The Opposition Member of Parliaments (MPs) doubted the bill’s intention and stated that it violated citizen’s fundamental rights. 

In response, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, who has piloted this bill, clarified that it was only meant to stop bogus and fraudulent voting.

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Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury stated, “The Bill is outside the legislative competence of the House as it violates the limits on legislation set by the Supreme Court in its judgment (Puttaswamy vs. Union of India).” He further suggested that the bill should be sent to the standing committee. Rijiju said that various proposals that are part of the bill had already been suggested and recommended by the Standing Committee of Law and Personnel. 

Another Congress party leader Manish Tiwari said, “The linking of voter IDs and Aadhaar violates the fundamental right to privacy as defined by the Supreme Court in the judgment.” Congress leader Shashi Tharoor questioned whether the move wouldn’t possibly provide voting rights to non-citizens as Aadhaar is just a proof of residence. 

The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the Centre was curtailing the independence of the Election Commission by bringing in the legislation.

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The Law Minister, clarifying the bill objectives, said that the Opposition MPs had misinterpreted the apex court’s verdict. According to him, the bill aims to “curb the menace of multiple enrolments of the same person in different places”. Further, “the Amendment of Section 20 of the Representation of the People’s Act 1950 and Section 60 of the RP Act 1951 for substitution of the word “wide” with the word “spouse” making the statue gender-neutral.”