Aadhaar Card will be linked with electoral rolls, listed for introduction in Lok Sabha
A bill on electoral reforms which seeks to link electoral rolls with the Aadhaar ecosystem to weed out duplicate is listed for introduction in Lok Sabha on Monday.
The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 seeks to allow electoral registration officers to seek Aadhaar number of people who want to register as voters “to establish the identity”.
It also seeks to allow the electoral registration officers to ask for Aadhaar numbers from “persons already included in the electoral roll for authentication of entries in the electoral roll, and to identify registration of the name of the same person in the electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency”.
At the same time, the amendment 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 the inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed”.
Such people will be allowed to furnish other alternative documents as may be prescribed.
According to the bill circulated to Lok Sabha members ahead of its introduction, various sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951 will be amended.
The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the bill states that Section 23 of the RP Act, 1950 will be amended to allow linking of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem “to curb the menace of multiple enrollments of the same person in different places”.
Amendment to section 14 of the RP Act, 1950 will allow having 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 1st day of January, 1st day of April, 1st day of July, and 1st day of October in a calendar year” will be the qualifying dates for 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 to become gender-neutral for service voters.
The amendment will also help replace the word “wife” with the word “spouse” making the statutes “gender-neutral”.
An Army man’s wife is entitled to be enrolled as a service voter, but a woman Army officer’s husband is not, according to provisions in the electoral law. With “wife” being replaced by the term “spouse”, this will change.
Aadhaar-Voter ID link: Know how to link Aadhaar with Voter ID
Ahead of the upcoming Assembly Elections 2022, the Union Cabinet cleared a bill on electoral reforms, including the one to link voter ID cards with Aadhaar voluntarily to root out multiple enrollments. According to the bill, the electoral law will also be made gender-neutral for service voters. One can link their Aadhaar to voter ID cards by visiting the booth-level officers via National Voter Service Portal, SMS, or phone.
Link Aadhaar to a voter ID card via the National voter service portal:
Step 1: Go to https://voterportal.eci.gov.in/
Step 2: Login through the portal using mobile number, email id, voter id number, and enter the password.
Step 3: Next provide the state, district, and personal details like name, date of birth, and father’s name.
Step 4: Now click on the search button if the details entered correctly fit the government’s database so that the details will be displayed on the screen.
Step 5: Tap on the ‘Feed Aadhaar No’ option which is available on the left side of the screen.
Step 6: A pop-up page will be shown to fill in the name as present on the Aadhaar card, Aadhaar number, voter ID number, registered mobile number, and/or registered email address.
Step 7: After all the details are mentioned, then cross-check the data once and click on the submit button.
Step 8: Finally, a message will be shown on the screen displaying that the application is registered successfully.
Link Aadhaar to a voter ID card via SMS:
Step 1: Open your phone text message and
Step 2: Send an SMS to 166 or 51969
Step 3: The format of sending the SMS is
Link Aadhaar to a voter ID card via the phone:
Step 1: You can also call the call center to link the Aadhaar with your voter ID.
Step 2: Dial 1950 on weekdays from 10 am to 5 pm.
Step 3: Share your voter ID card number and Aadhaar number to link it.
Link Aadhaar to a voter ID card by contacting the booth level officers:
Step 1: Share an application with the nearest booth level office.
Step 2: The booth officer will cross-check the details and visit your place for further verification.
Step 3: Once done, it will be shown in the records.
Steps to check the status of Aadhaar to link with your voter ID:
Step 1: Visit the https://voterportal.eci.gov.in/
Step 2: Enter the information present in the ‘Seeding Through NVSP Portal’.
Step 3: A notification is shown regarding the request that is registered and is being processed.
Step 4: Eventually, the official website will be shown in the official https://uidai.gov.in/ to verify whether your Aadhaar is linked with a voter ID.
Chief Reporter- Arvind pathak ,email ascent303@gmail.com 9001021888
