21 Dec Election Laws (Amendment )Bill 2021 : A critical Evaluation   (GS Paper II) (Source – The Hindu/ Indian Express)

Election Laws (Amendment )Bill 2021 : A critical Evaluation- Today Current Affairs

Context : The union law minister Kiran Rijiju introduced Election Laws (Amendment )Bill 2021 in Loksabha on 20th Dec 2021 and finally Loksabha passes Bill to link electoral rolls with Aadhar 

Introduction :

To strengthen democracy, free and fair elections play an important role . In India , there are many flaws in our electoral system which should be addressed by our law makers . maong those flaws, one big flaw is that a same person could be enrolled in voter lists from multiple constituencies and there is no any mechanism to prevent such type of discrepancies . In this bill ,, the aadhar card of the voter would be linked with the voter card so that the enrolment of one person in multiple constituencies could be stopped . 

But this provision is voluntary and not free from objections . Opposition leaders made their objections on the ground of privacy and the possibility of forged voters. An Aadhar card is not proof of citizenship , it is just the evidence of identity. In this way non citizens could also be enrolled as the voters . Another objection behind the passing of this bill is that without debate this bill was passed . This bill should be brought after proper and long debate in the parliament 

The provisions of the Election Laws (Amendment )  Bill: The Hindu Analysis

• It empowers to electoral officer to demand aadhar number of the people who want to enroll themselves in voter list 

• The electoral officer can also demand to show the aadhar card from those people who had also enrolled in voter list 

• The objective of Bill to curb the duplicacy of the voters registered in various constituencies 

What are the objections of oppositions: The Hindu Analysis

1. The privacy of individuals may be affected. The aadhar card could be used as the sources for getting personal data of the person

2. The procedure of the passing of this bill . This bill should be passed after a big debde in the parliament and even after the debate in the public also. Because it is related with the democracy therefore it must be passed through proper democratic manner 

3. Voting is a legal right and Aadhar is beyond legal right . If any body does not have Aadhar card can not be deprived from voting right 

4. It is against the Supreme Court judgment in the Puttaswamy case.

Conclusion 

In fact, there are many flaws in our election procedure even though the reform in the election commission is also necessary . An amendment should be brought to make the election commission more efficient and more impartial . 

The Amendments are also required in the eligibility of the candidates and even after the elections, there must be provision to control representatives . But instead of these important amendments , the provision of linking Aadhaar with the voter list is not a sufficient tool regarding electoral reform . Rather than linking the Addhar, evidence proving citizenship must be shown at the time of elections . Once the election completes (After casting the votes) a unique code may be generated (On the bases of biometric identification ) and through this further duplicacy may be prevented . For address proof, any supporting documents may be asked . 

Conclusively It can be said that, The amendment brought by the government is definitely the effort of the government to curb the duplicacy but this should be brought after proper debate and government should also ensure to protect the right to privacy of the person . 

Here, we mention all information about Election Laws (Amendment )Bill 2021 : A critical Evaluation, Today Current Affairs.

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Dr. Anshul Bajpai

Plutus IAS Current Affairs Team Member