Supreme Court To Hear Petition Against Election Law Amendment Act Today
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Election Act Amendment Act to link the voter card with the Aadhar card. The Supreme Court will hear Surjewala's petition on Monday.
Now politics has started on making it mandatory to link an Aadhar card with a Voter ID. Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Election Act Amendment Act to link the voter card with the Aadhar card. The Supreme Court will hear Surjewala's petition on Monday. A bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AS Bopanna will hear the petition.
Linking of voter card with Aadhaar is unconstitutional: Surjewala
Congress leader Surjewala has said in his petition that linking voter cards with Aadhaar cards is a violation of the fundamental right to privacy of citizens and it is unconstitutional and contrary to the Constitution. There is also an argument of Congress that Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship but proof of being a resident, whereas a Voter ID card gives the right of citizenship.
Linking Aadhaar data with electronic Electoral Photo Identity Card data would make personal and personal data of voters available to statutory authority and would impose a limit on voters. That is, voters will now have to establish their identity before the Electoral Registration Officer (Respondent No. 2) by presenting their respective Aadhaar details.
No law to protect citizens' data
The petition said that at present there is no law to protect the data of citizens, the fact that the situation will become more serious. The petition claimed that the amendment to the election law could also enable the profiling of voters as all the demographic information linked to Aadhaar would be linked to the voter ID card.
Voters may be more likely to be denied voting rights
It could also, in theory, increase the chances of denial/intimidation of the vote based on the identity of the electorate. "It may also increase the possibility of voter surveillance and commercial exploitation of sensitive voter personal data," the petition said.
part of the government's electoral reform program
As part of the current Central Government's electoral reform program, the Election Commission has started the project of linking Aadhar cards with electoral data through voter ID cards. Its purpose is to eliminate multiple voter IDs in the name of the same person. At the same time, the electoral process has to be made error-free. According to the amended law made for this, the Electoral Registration Officer can ask for his Aadhaar number from any person. However, during the hearing of a case related to this, the Supreme Court made it clear that the Aadhaar card or number is only a document of identity, but it is not the basis of citizenship.
Opposition parties are continuously protesting
Almost all the opposition parties are continuously opposing the linking of Aadhaar and Voter ID. Congress has lodged a strong protest against this in both houses of the Parliament. Opposition parties say that there are many flaws in the Aadhaar system and in such a situation, if the voter ID card is linked with Aadhaar, then it will be a loss to the poor voters. At the same time, it also violates the right to privacy of the people. Apart from Congress, DMK, Nationalist Congress Party, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, and BSP have also strongly opposed the linking of voter ID with Aadhaar.
