Cabinet Clearing Draft Bill for Linking Aadhaar and Voter ID

In 2021, a bill was passed that was associated with key provisions of draft bill for linking Aadhaar & voter ID.  The bill aimed to remove all the unwanted entries on the electoral roll.  It was a common issue before this bill that an individual had multiple entries to their name in the electoral roll from different locations which affected the vote count and the census management. A proposal was passed in the cabinet in 2019 associated with the amendment of Aadhaar and voter cards to reduce the cases of this issue in future instances. 

Key provisions of draft bill for linking Aadhaar & voter ID: discussion

The bill primarily addressed the issue of the multiple entries of people in the electoral roll found in different locations.  The bill was passed in the lower house by the Union Law minister Kiren Rijiju. 

The Election Commission had previously taken the initiative to link Voter Card and Aadhaar cards in 2015 to address the same concern as part of its National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme. 

Following are the key provisions of the draft bill for linking Aadhaar & voter id:

• According to the Election Commission, this Aadhaar linkage with the voter ID card shall help formulate a plan in working towards secure and electronic voting for the migrant voters even if they are not present in the location of their constituency

• The bill has laid down four instances in a year instead of one.  The recent amended of the has allowed individuals to be enlisted in the voter’s list in four instances within a year,  the other three dates are April 1, July 1 And October 1

• The bill has proposed to make a gender-neutral provision. It has allowed the spouse of the male army serviceman to be enlisted in the same consistency as the husband and sought to substitute the word “wife” for “spouse”

• A fourth amendment is likely to empower the Election Commission to requisition premises for any purpose related to elections and these powers will not be limited to the powers of creating polling stations and storage of ballot boxes

Impact of Draft Bill for Linking Aadhaar & Voter ID: discussion

The impact of the Draft Bill for Linking Aadhaar & Voter ID was noted in the aftermath of the instances that were prevalent in the political scene of the country.  The opposition was thoroughly against the passage of this bill stating that this bill violates the democratic values of voting of an individual. However, a survey revealed that on an average 20,000 fake voters have been identified across different constituencies of the country, including the capital itself. Many people were found to have registered with different electoral rolls and different states. Aside from the common people, many politicians have also been found involved in duplicating the voter ID card of individuals who have moved out of their constituency. 

The electoral bill of the 2021 winter session answers the question, “Is Aadhaar & Voter ID linking mandatory?” The Electoral Laws (Reform) Bill passed in the winter session of 2021 mandated the linking of the Voter card with the Aadhaar card. As of now lining of the voter card and Aadhaar card is voluntary and an individual will not be restricted to entering their names in the electoral list in absence of the Aadhaar card. 

Conclusion

Despite the opposition from several ministers the electoral bill associated with the linking of voter cards and Aadhaar cards, was passed in the lower house of the parliament in 2021. The key provisions of draft bill for linking Aadhaar & Voter ID aim to ensure authenticity in the census of the voters’ list thereby ensuring authentic figures in the voting chart. This bill also ensures benefits in the enlisting of people on the voting list and there was a mention of a gender-neutral stance. This bill, although controversial, was pushed by the Electoral Commission in 2019 to ensure authenticity in the information and conduct fair elections all over the country.