New Delhi : The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice has recommended that a Common Electoral Roll be prepared in the country. The proposal is to prepare a single list or electoral roll for Parliament, Assembly, and local body elections. The Central Government will convene a meeting of the States in this connection. But the opposition accused the proposal as an encroachment into the rights of the states.

The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 to link electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem without any substantial discussion. Currently, the National Election Commission is in charge of voter lists for parliamentary and assembly elections. The voter list for local government elections is prepared by the State Election Commission. Instead, the new recommendation is to prepare a unified voter list and hold all elections on this basis. The government informed the Committee that it plans to hold a meeting with state election commissioners soon to try and convince them to adopt a common electoral roll.

The bill to link Aadhaar and voter ID was passed by a unanimous vote in the Lok Sabha amid opposition riots. The Lok Sabha passed the bill to link Aadhaar and voter ID barely two hours after it was introduced in the Lok Sabha. The Opposition members to accuse the government of “compromising” the authority of Parliament.

The Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said the provisions were extensively discussed by the parliamentary panel on law and justice and it also gave a unanimous report. At the same time, the Bill makes it clear that “no application for inclusion of name in the electoral roll shall be denied and no entries in the electoral roll shall be deleted for inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed”.