The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed by the Parliament on December 21, 2021 after it was given a go ahead in the Rajya Sabha. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on December 20, 2021. The bill seeks to make amendments to the Representation of the People Act and allow electoral registration officers to seek the Aadhaar number of those who want to register as voters to establish their entity.
Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju clarified that the bill would allow the electoral roll to be linked with Aadhaar cards. It will be optional, not mandatory. Opposition Congress MP Shashi Tharoor argued that Aadhaar is only meant to be proof of residence, it's not proof of citizenship. "If you're in a position asking Aadhaar for voters, all you're getting is a document that reflects residence, not citizenship. You're potentially giving the vote to non-citizens," Tharoor said.
Aadhaar only meant to be proof of residence, it's not proof of citizenship. If you're in a position asking Aadhaar for voters, all you're getting is a document that reflects residence, not citizenship. You're potentially giving the vote to non-citizens: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor pic.twitter.com/WivlZooPGY
— ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2021
Following are the proposed amendments to Representation of the People Act-
1. Gender Neutral Process for Service Voters
The bill cleared by the Union Cabinet proposes to make the electoral process gender-neutral for service voters.
As per the current provision, while an army man's wife is entitled to be enrolled as a service voter, an army woman officer's husband is not. The new bill may change this.
The poll panel had asked the law ministry earlier to replace the term wife' with spouse' in the provision related to service voters in the Representation of the People Act.
2. Multiple cutoff dates for enrollment of youth
The newly proposed amendments to the Representation of the People Act include allowing the youth to enroll as voters on four different dates every year. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has been pushing for multiple cut-off dates to allow more eligible voters to register.
Currently, only the youth turning 18 on or before January 1 of every year are allowed to be registered as voters. So if an election is held in a particular year, only an individual who turned 18 years on or before January 1 of that year is eligible to be enrolled in the voters' list.
The EC had contested that the January 1 cut-off date deprives several youth from participating in the electoral exercise held in a particular year.
The law ministry had recently informed a parliamentary panel that it is proposing to amend section 14(b) of the Representation of the People Act to insert four qualifying dates for voter registration-January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 of every year.
3. Linking of electoral roll with Aadhaar
In March 2020, the then law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had informed the Lok Sabha that the ECI has proposed linking of electoral roll with Aadhaar to curb the menace of multiple enrolments of the same person at different places.
To enable this, amendments will be required to the electoral laws. The election panel has reportedly taken several measures to ensure the security and safety of the electoral roll data platform.
This would not mean that the electoral database system will enter the Aadhaar ecosystem. The system will only be used for authentication purposes.
As per ECI's proposal sent in August 2019, the electoral law should be amended to empower electoral registration officers to seek Aadhaar number of existing voters and those enrolling themselves in the voters' list. The poll panel has only proposed to link Aadhaar with electoral data to check multiple entries in electoral rolls and make them error-free.
4. Empower ECI to take over any premise for Elections
The bill cleared by the cabinet also includes another proposal that allows the Election Commission the powers to take over any premise for the conduct of elections. This comes after objections were raised over ECI's takeover of certain schools during the period of elections.
Representation of the People Act, 1951The Representation of the People Act, 1951 is an act of the Indian Parliament that provides for the conduct of election of both the Houses of Parliament and Houses of the Legislature of each State. The act includes provisions for qualification and disqualification for membership of the two Houses along with corrupt practices and other offences in connection with such elections. The act was introduced in the Parliament by the then law minister Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and was enacted by the parliament under Article 327 of the Indian Constitution, just before the first general election. |
Comments
All Comments (0)
Join the conversation