Parliament Diary

The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced and passed in Lok Sabha today. The Bill mainly enables linking of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem to reduce multiple enrolment of the same person in different places. 

Several Members opposed the introduction of the Bill. A Member pointed out that the Bill was not in line with the Puttaswamy judgment which specified that Aadhaar can only be required in cases of benefits provided by the Government. 

The Bill was later taken up for consideration and passing as well. During the discussion, several Members said that passing the Bill on the same day as its introduction did not give enough time to generate public opinion on the matter. Another Member asked the government to bring a comprehensive Bill on electoral reforms which would also address reservation for women.

The Law and Justice Minister assured the House that the provision to link Aadhaar card to the electoral rolls will be a voluntary provision and not mandatory. He added that such a move was recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice in its 105th report. In an Action Taken Report, the Committee had recommended the government to undertake necessary steps to link Aadhaar Card numbers with Voter ID cards. In the same report, the government noted that it was not possible to link Aadhaar with EPIC (Voter IDs) without bringing appropriate statutory amendment in light of the Puttaswamy judgement. 

Earlier in the day, the supplementary budget of Rs. 2.99 lakh crore for 2021-22 was approved in Lok Sabha after the Finance Minister responded to the debate.

Two bills were referred to Committees. The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which was introduced in Lok Sabha last week, was sent to a Joint Committee for further examination.

In Rajya Sabha, The Mediation Bill, 2021 was introduced and referred to the Law and Justice Committee. The Bill seeks to promote mediation as a preferred mode of alternative dispute resolution through measures like compulsory pre-litigation mediation etc.

In Rajya Sabha, discussion on the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus concluded and The NDPS (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed. During a Special Mention, a Member urged the government to enact a law to regulate conditions of working from home.