The Election Law (Amendment) Bill, 2021, introduced by Minister of Law Kiren Rijiju seeking to link the elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) to the Aadhaar number has been passed in Lok Sabha through voice vote.
The Bill allows electoral registration officers to ask for Aadhaar numbers of applicants wanting to register as voters to establish the identity of the applicant.
It also seeks to allow the officers to ask for the number from “persons already included in the electoral roll for the purposes of authentication of entries in the electoral roll, and to identify registration of 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 opposed by Congress, BSP, AIMIM and other opposition parties. The opposition claimed that it would be a violation of the Constitutional rights of citizens and would violate their right to privacy if Aadhaar is connected to the electoral rolls. The Opposition demanded the rollback of the Bill.
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