BREAKING : Parliament Passes Election Laws Amendment Bill To Allow Aadhaar-Voter ID Linkage

The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which seeks to link Voter Identity Card and Aadhaar. The house passed the bill in a voice vote at around 3.15 PM, after a discussion that started at 2 PM.

The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill yesterday.

The Bill seeks to amend provisions of the Representation of People's Act, 1950 and Representation of People's Act, 1951 to introduce additional qualifying dates for voting, making voting for service voters gender-neutral and linking of Aadhaar with electoral rolls. It was introduced in Lok Sabha yesterday and passed on the very same day after a brief debate lasting a little more than 10 minutes. 

The Bill contains a provision that: 

"The electoral registration officer may for the purpose of establishing the identity of any person require that such person may furnish the Aadhaar number given by the Unique Identification Authority of India as per the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016".

While debating the Bill in Lok Sabha yesterday, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had justified the linkage saying that the linkage was "voluntary not mandatory." 

The Bill includes a clause along the following lines: 

"No application for inclusion of name in the electoral roll shall be denied and no entries in the electoral roll shall be deleted for the inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed: Provided that such individual may be allowed to furnish such other alternate documents as may be prescribed"

In the House today, opposition members voiced their concerns about the manner in which the Bill was being introduced in the House and the proposal to link Aadhaar with voting rights adding that it would be contrary to the Puttuswamy judgment and the test of proportionality. MP Sujit Kumar from the Biju Janta Dal expressed the concern of his party about the proposal to link Aadhaar and electoral rolls adding that there can be a "likelihood of abuse of the provision." 

"If the purpose is to establish identity then Aadhaar number can be linked to Voter ID why link the entire Aadhaar database?" he asked the Minister.
Further, he added:  

"The linkage will allow profiling and disenfranchisement of voters on the margins of society like migrant workers...if the provision is misused it may allow target political advertisement..the Bill is especially concerning in the absence of Data Protection law." 

Kumar also said that since by way of this provision electoral data and voting patterns would be at the disposal of the party in power is available to one party, "it should be available to all parties to create a level playing field." 

Responding to the points raised by Kumar and other members of the House, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju reiterated that the proposal to link Aadhaar with Voter IDs had come from the Election Commission of India and reports of the Joint Parliamentary Committee. Further Mr. Rijiju added that in the absence of  "any system in place to weed out bogus voters" the country was witnessing numerous instances of bogus voters.

"Only those who make use of fake voters will oppose the Bill. If one is a genuine voter, then there is no need to oppose the Bill," he added,

Reiterating his statements given before the Lok Sabha yesterday, Mr Rijiju added that the Bill satisfied the three conditions laid down in the Puttuswamy judgement for legitimately infringing on the right to privacy of citizens. 

"In Puttuswamy case, Supreme Court has clarified that any infringement of privacy must have a basis in a statute, there must be legitimate state interest and that the test of proportionality must be satisfied...that is being done in this case. The test of Proportionality is satisfied because the electoral officer will only use it (Aadhaar) to establish the identity of the persons...the database will be with the Election Commission of India and will not be in the public domain."

The House passed the Bill by way of voice-vote despite calls by certain members seeking division of votes which ensures that votes are recorded as a permanent record.