Electoral reform bill approved
Recently the Cabinet has approved the Electoral Reform Bill. The proposed reform is part of the suggestions made by the Election Commission (EC) to the Law Ministry.
These include linking of Aadhaar, single voter list and remote voting to avoid duplication.
Key provisions:
- The Representation of the People Act: RPA, 1950 has made voting gender neutral by special procedure by replacing the word wife with that of husband or wife.
- Current law allows the wife of a serviceman to enroll as a service voter, but not the husband of a female serviceman.
- Simplify the enrollment schedule for first-time voters by allowing four different dates for enrollment each year.
- Note that the RPA currently allows voter registration only once for those who have attained the age of 18 years.
- Provision has been made to link voter ID card with Aadhaar for voter authentication.
- This will help in completing the plan to remove fake and fake entries in the electoral rolls and allow migrant voters to exercise their franchise.
- The Election Commission has been empowered to require the premises for any purpose connected with the election, which was limited to the construction of polling stations or the storage of ballot boxes.
Source – The Hindu
