Lok Sabha passes the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021

Tags: National News

• The bill will amend various sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951.
• Highlights of the bill-
• The bill will allow voluntary linkage of Voter ID with Aadhaar by amending Section 23 of Representation of the People Act, 1950.
• This is a long-pending electoral reform to remove multiple enrolments in the name of one person.
• It is voluntary, so, people who cannot furnish their Aadhaar numbers will be allowed to present other documents to establish identity.
• From now, there will be four “qualifying” dates for eligible people to register as voters. They are January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1 in a calendar year.
• At present the qualifying date for the eligible persons who are 18 years or above to register as voters is January 1 of the Year.
• The bill will also allow the elections to become gender-neutral for service voters by replacing the word ‘wife’ with ‘spouse’. 
• At present, an Armyman’s wife is entitled to be enrolled as a service voter, but a woman officer’s husband is not. With ‘wife’ being replaced by the term ‘spouse’, this will change.