JOIN USAfter Aadhaar linking, Modi government pushes for common electoral roll: Report
After Rajya Sabha passed a bill that enables linking of Aadhaar numbers with electoral roll data, the Narendra Modi government is pushing for a common electoral roll for all elections in the country -- that is, Parliament, Assembly and local body polls.
The Centre is planning to hold a meeting with state election commissioners soon to "persuade" them to adopt a common electoral roll, a report by The Indian Express said.
On a day Upper House passed The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice has held a meeting on ‘Status of Common Electoral Roll for conducting elections in the country.' The Committee is headed by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi.
The government's bid has reportedly faced backlash from the Opposition leaders in the Commitee, with some opposing it and others arguing that the Centre has no authority to intervene or modify powers granted to the State Election Commission under the Constitution.
Reeta Vasishta, Secretary, Legislative Department, and representatives of Election Commission have put up a presentation for the Committee, Express reported.
The Centre reportedly has informed the Committee that it intends to meet the state election authorities and convince them for a common electoral roll.
Notably, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and the two other Election Commissioners, despite some reservations, attended a virtual interaction on November 16 with Principal Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, P K Mishra.
Prior to that meet, Law Ministry had written to Election Commission saying that official from PMO "expects" CEC Chandra to be present at the meeting on common electoral roll.
The CEC did not attend the meeting as the way the Ministry of Law had conveyed the PMO’s expectation for his participation in the meeting had not been in sync with the stature of the EC – an autonomous constitutional authority.
However, later CEC and two other Election Commissioners had an informal interaction with Mishra, the Principal Secretary.
Congress party had accused Modi’s government of treating the EC as “a subservient tool”.
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