The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 seeks to link electoral roll data and voter ID cards with the Aadhaar ecosystem.

Relevance in guaranteeing free and fair elections in India.

• De-Duplication of Electoral Rolls: It amends Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, to allow for the integration of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem. This tries to reduce the problem of the same person being enrolled in various places. This will aid in the prevention of spurious and fraudulent voting. This connection is consistent with the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personal, Public Grievances, and Law and Justice’s 105th report.
• Other papers may be submitted: No application for inclusion of a name in the electoral roll should be refused, and no entries in the electoral roll shall be erased, because an individual is unable to provide an Aadhaar number. Such individuals will be permitted to provide any other alternative documentation that may be required.
• Introducing Gender Neutrality: The phrase “wives of service voters” will be substituted with “spouse.” As a result, the laws will be more “gender-neutral.” Service voters include members of the armed forces, armed police forces from a state serving outside of the country, and government officials deployed abroad of India.
• Multiple Qualifying Dates: Citizens gain voting rights when they reach the age of 18. However, even after reaching the age of 18, many people are left off the electoral records. This is due to the fact that the qualifying date in the system is January 1st. The measure specifies four qualifying dates for updating the voting records to include persons who have reached the age of 18: the first day of the months of January, April, July, and October.
• The government will determine what constitutes a valid reason for not linking: The reasons for not linking the Aadhaar would be stipulated by the government for’sufficient cause.’
• Eliminate the use of proxies who vote with several voter IDs. Unlike EPIC, Aadhaar collects biometric data, which may be used to validate uniqueness.

Issues

• Aadhaar is not mandatory in and of itself: Following the Supreme Court’s decision in 2015, the drive to link voter ID to Aadhaar was put on hold. When it said that “the Aadhaar card Scheme is entirely optional.” Aside from that, Aadhaar was solely intended to be used as confirmation of residency. It does not constitute proof of citizenship.
• Problems with demographic data: Any attempt to connect Aadhaar to voter IDs will result in demographic data. Critics worry that the government can utilise voter identification information to “disenfranchise some persons and profile citizens.” Furthermore, it may build the groundwork for targeted political propaganda and commercial exploitation of private sensitive data, both of which are prohibited under the model code of behaviour. Ex: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh chief electoral officers integrated Aadhaar data to voter identity cards in 2018. According to campaigners, at least 5.5 million people have been denied the right to vote.
• Fears of Mass Disenfranchisement: The Bill permits electoral registration authorities to request Aadhaar numbers from applicants wishing to register as voters in order to verify the applicant’s identification. In the absence of Aadhar, the government might utilise voter identity information to disenfranchise some citizens and profile citizens.
• Concerns about privacy: Currently, electoral data is stored by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in its own database, which has its own verification procedure and is independent from other government databases. The planned link between Aadhaar and the electoral database will provide data to the ECI and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Experts say that in the absence of a strong personal data privacy legislation (a Bill in that regard has yet to be approved by Parliament), any effort to enable data sharing might be problematic.
• The linking will not provide any results until it is made mandatory: The aforementioned government perks will only be available if Aadhaar is required.
• Voters may lose their right to vote: The government has not defined what constitutes “sufficient cause” for not connecting Aadhaar. If an individual’s unwillingness to submit the data is judged “unsatisfactory,” the franchise may be revoked.

Way forward

• Comprehensive Legislation Is Required: An error-free Electoral Roll is a must for a free and fair election. However, the Government should present a thorough law so that genuine debate may take place in Parliament.
• Citizens’ right to vote must not be denied without due process and justification. As a result, the upcoming major adjustment to our election rolls should be infallible and abuse-proof.
• The law should describe the amount to which data will be shared between the two databases, the means for obtaining consent, and whether consent to link the databases may be rescinded.
• The government must approve and execute the Data Protection Bill to guarantee better protection of people’ data while also resolving privacy concerns.
• The judiciary must verify that the new legislation satisfies the right to privacy and the proportionality test, particularly the section that ties Aadhaar to election records.

How to structure:

1. Give an intro about the Election laws (amendment) bill 2021
2. Explain the features
3. Explain how it helps in ensuring free and fair elections in India
4. Suggest further measures
5. Conclude

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/thinking-before-linking-on-linking-electoral-rolls-with-aadhaar/article38007291.ece