New Delhi: The winter session of Parliament has been witnessing a ruckus. In both the houses, the opposition is adamant on the Lakhimpur violence and the constant demand for the resignation of Minister Ajay Singh Teni. During this uproar, the government introduced the Electoral Reform Bill in the Lok Sabha. The bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha amid heavy uproar. Since the passage of the bill, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha has adjourned the house till tomorrow.
Asaduddin Owaisi, including Congress, NCP, opposed the government’s election reform law, while opposing this law, accusing it of abolishing the Election Commission and making changes in the voter list accordingly, opposing the bill to link Aadhaar with the voting card . Along with this, the opposition parties called it against the decision of the Supreme Court and violative of the fundamental rights and right to privacy given by the Constitution.
Through this bill, it has been said to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Responding to a brief discussion on the Bill, Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju said the arguments given by the members for opposing it are an attempt to misrepresent the Supreme Court’s decision. This bill is in line with the decision of the apex court.
He said that the government proposed to amend the Representation of the People Act to ensure that no person can register in more than one constituency and to prevent fraudulent voting.
Rijiju said that even after crossing 18 years in the system till now, many people are deprived of voting as January 1 is the only ‘cut-off’ date for registration and registration of new voters takes place in it.
He said that now there will be four dates regarding registration which will be January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1. “We want the electoral roll to be good. Everyone wants that. Hence linking the Aadhar card with the electoral roll.”
Following the minister’s reply, the House approved the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 by voice vote. During this, the opposition members were making noise in the House on some other subjects including the demand for the dismissal of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.
The Law Minister said that the Standing Committee on Personnel, Law and Justice had suggested that it was necessary to maintain the integrity of the voter list, so it was asked to link them with Aadhaar. He said that the committee has also asked to tell about the action taken in this regard, in which the members of different parties are involved.
We don’t have data protection law
Earlier, opposing the introduction of the Bill, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said it was against the Supreme Court’s decision in Puttuswamy Vs.
“We don’t have a data protection law and there have been cases of misuse of data in the past,” the Congress leader said. In such a situation, the bill should be withdrawn and it should be sent to the Standing Committee of Parliament for consideration, Choudhary said.
Supporting the bill, BJP’s Nishikant Dubey said today that Congress and many other opposition parties are worried if Aadhaar is being added to the electoral rolls. He said that after this provision, neither Bangladeshis can be made voters nor Nepalis can be made. Dubey alleged that Congress and Trinamool Congress are opposing the bill due to vote-bank politics.
Trinamool Congress’s Kalyan Banerjee alleged that the government and the ministers were working against democracy and parliamentary rules. On the other hand, Vinayak Raut of Shiv Sena said that it is not proper to pass it in haste and there should be a debate on it. Saugata Roy of Trinamool Congress said the bill violates the Supreme Court’s order and is against fundamental rights. That’s why we oppose its introduction. Supriya Sule of Nationalist Congress Party said that the government should withdraw this bill and bring a comprehensive bill. Women’s reservation bill was also brought with it, after which everyone will support it.
L Srikrishna of YSR Congress Party also said that the government should come out with a comprehensive bill on this subject. BSP’s Ritesh Pandey said that the parliamentary process is being bypassed and this bill should be withdrawn. BJD’s Anubhav Mohanty said the bill should have been passed after full discussion.
Congress’s Manish Tewari said that bringing such a bill is beyond the legislative competence of the government. Apart from this, the Aadhaar Act also states that Aadhaar cannot be linked in this way. Congress’s Shashi Tharoor said Aadhaar can be accepted only as a proof of residence and not as a proof of citizenship. In such a situation it is wrong to add it to the voter list.
AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi said that it violates the fundamental rights and right to privacy as enshrined in the Constitution. This bill is also against the provision of secret ballot. That’s why we oppose its introduction.
NK Premachandran of RSP said that no person can be deprived of the right to life, privacy etc and the Supreme Court in Puttuswamy Vs. Government of India had emphasized on fundamental rights. In this case, linking of voter list with Aadhaar violates Article 21 of the Constitution, he said.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to the draft of this bill related to electoral reforms. The draft bill states that in order to prevent duplication and bogus voting in the electoral roll, the voter card and the list will be linked with the Aadhar card.