The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed by Rajya Sabha on Tuesday after opposition members staged a walkout. 

The bill that seeks to link electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem was cleared by Lok Sabha on Monday. It was passed by a voice vote after a brief discussion in the Lower House. The ‘electoral reforms’ bill was piloted by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju.

During the discussion, Rijiju said, “There are numerous instances of bogus voters.  Earlier we did not have any system in place to weed out bogus voters. Only those who make use of fake voters will oppose the Bill. If one is a genuine voter, then there is no need to oppose the Bill. I request that this revolutionary Bill be supported by all members of the House.”

Members of Congress, TMC, Left parties, DMK and NCP  walked out from the House in protest. Members of BJP, JD(U), YSRCP, AIADMK, BJD and TMC-M supported the Bill, saying it will help in eradicating duplicate and fake voters from electoral rolls.

The opposition members were demanding a division of votes as they had moved a motion to send the Bill to a select committee, which was rejected by voice vote.

Rijiju said that various proposals which are part of the electoral reforms Bill have already been suggested and recommended by the Standing Committee of Law and Personnel.

The Congress MPs had moved adjournment notices in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to discuss the Bill linking electoral roll with Aadhaar.

Opposition parties created a ruckus and objected to time being allocated to the electoral bill without them being part of the Business Advisory Committee.