NEW DELHI, Dec 21: The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that seeks to link electoral rolls to Aadhaar number, passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday amidst continued protests from Opposition members, was adopted by both Houses of Parliament with its passage in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday in the absence of the entire opposition who staged a walkout.
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. Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, however, clarified that linking of Aadhar to Electoral Photo Identity Card was voluntary.
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 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.”
On Tuesday, both the Houses started with continued protests from Opposition members. Lok Sabha, before being adjourned for the day, referred the Prohibition of Child Marriage Amendment Bill, 2021, to the Standing Committee, after it was introduced in the Lower House by Union Minister Smriti Irani.
In the upper house, a motion moved by the minister of state for parliamentary affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal to suspend the TMC member Derek O Brien for the remainder of the winter session for disrupting the House proceedings was carried in the absence of the opposition. He joins 12 other MPs who have remained suspended since the first day of the current session.
(Manas Dasgupta)
