The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill on electoral reforms, allowing linking of Aadhaar to voter ID cards – one of the key proposals pushed by the Election Commission of India (ECI). According to the bill, the electoral law will also be made gender-neutral for service voters.

The bill will also allow those exercising their franchise for the first time to get as many as four turns to register in a year. As of now, those turning 18 on or before January 1 of every year are only allowed to register as voters. The ECI had been pushing for multiple cut-off dates to allow more eligible people to register as voters.

The poll panel has been pressing the government to amend provisions of the Representation of the People Act allowing EC to seek Aadhaar numbers of those applying to be voters and those who are already part of the electoral rolls. According to the EC proposal sent in August 2019, the electoral law should be amended to empower electoral registration officers to seek Aadhaar number of existing voters as well as of those applying to enrol themselves in the voters' list.

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In August 2015, a Supreme Court order on Aadhaar had put the brakes on the EC's project to link UIDAI (Aadhaar) number with voters' electoral data to check multiple entries in electoral rolls. The poll panel was then collecting Aadhaar numbers as part of its National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP).

Seeking to check multiple entries in electoral rolls and to make them error-free, the EC had embarked on an ambitious project to link Aadhaar numbers with electoral data. Since the Supreme Court order makes it clear that sanction of law is required to collect the Aadhaar number, the commission has proposed changes in electoral law, a poll panel functionary had explained. Yet another proposal cleared on Wednesday will allow Election Commission the powers to take over any premise for the conduct of elections.

There were some objections to taking over schools etc during the period of elections. The bill on these reforms cleared on Wednesday are likely to be introduced in the ongoing Winter session.

(With inputs from PTI)

(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)

First Published:Dec 16, 2021 7:03 PM IST