In a move aimed at consolidating all information related to any one voter, the government on Saturday, published a notification amending the Registration of Electors Rules. This will make for linking Aadhaar details with voters list to weed out duplicate entries.
Alongside, to make electoral law gender neutral, the word “wife” will be substituted with the word “spouse” making the statutes gender neutral.
The Legislative Department in the Union Law Ministry published the notifications on Saturday announcing that the rules have been amended in line with the provisions of the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 passed by Parliament in December last year. The Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules, 2022 will come into force on August 1.
Another notification has also been published asking people, who are already enrolled in the voters list, to intimate his or her Aadhaar number on or before April 1, 2023 to the officers concerned.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (5) of section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950), the Central Government hereby notifies the 1st April, 2023 as the date on or before which every person whose name is included in the electoral roll may intimate his Aadhaar number in accordance with the said section,” the notification read.
The Election Laws (Amendment) Act allows electoral registration officers to seek Aadhaar number of people, who want to register as voters “for the purpose of establishing 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 the purposes of 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”.
A new form “6B” has been introduced to allow existing voters share their Aadhaar number. Those who do not have Aadhaar card, have an option of sharing other proofs such as MNREGA job card, health insurance smart card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour, driving license and PAN card.
Those not submitting their Aadhaar number have to tick the box which says: “I am not able to furnish my Aadhaar Number because I don’t have an Aadhaar number. Therefore, I hereby submit a copy of one of the following documents…”
