Parliament has passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill with the Rajya Sabha approving it on December 21. The Upper House passed this legislation amid the walkout by the opposition members. Lok Sabha had passed this bill on December 20, 2021.
- The bill provides linking of Aadhar numbers with electoral rolls besides giving four opportunities to enroll in a calendar year as a voter upon attaining 18 years of age. Apart from this, it has provisions of gender neutrality with regard to service voters and to enable the requisition of any premises for election purposes.
Amendments
- Section 23 of the RP Act, 1950 has been amended to allow linking of the roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem “to curb the menace of multiple enrolment of the same person in different places”. The linking of Aadhar number with electoral rolls is not compulsory or mandatory but voluntary.
- Amendment to Section 14 of the Act, 1950 will allow to have four “qualifying” dates for eligible people to register as voters. As of now, January 1 of every year is the sole qualifying date. People who turn 18 on or before January 1 can register as voters. Those turning 18 after that have to wait for one whole year to register as voters. Now, “the January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 in a calendar year” will be the qualifying dates in relation to the preparation or revision of electoral rolls.
- Amendment to Section 20 of the RP Act, 1950 and Section 60 of the RP Act, 1951 will allow the elections become gender-neutral for service voters. It will also help replace the word “wife” with the word “spouse” making the statutes “gender neutral”.
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