Congress Leader Surjewala Challenges Law Linking Aadhaar, Voter ID in Supreme Court; Hearing on Monday

The law linking Aadhaar and Voter Identity Card was challenged in the Supreme Court, with Congress’s Randeep Singh Surjewala demanding it be repealed.

Demanding it be repealed, the Congress leader in a petition called the law unconstitutional and a violation of the right to privacy and right to equality.

The hearing of the case will be held on Monday. A bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud will hear the issue.

Centre introduces Bill to link voter ID, Aadhaar cards

Earlier in December of 2021, the centre had introduced the Election Laws (Amendment Bill) 2021 to link voter identity and Aadhaar cards, despite objections by the Opposition parties over the move. Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, while rejecting the Opposition MPs’ statements that the Bill would violate the fundamental rights of citizens, clarified that the Amendment was only meant to stop bogus and fraudulent voting.

The government further said that linking Aadhaar to electoral rolls would solve the “major problem” of multiple enrollments of the same person at different places and help in “cleaning” the voter’s list to a great extent.

Opposition Slams Govt

Following the introduction of the bill, the 0pposition members slammed the government for rushing the Bill through the parliamentary process in a hurry and demanded that it be referred to a standing committee. “The Bill is outside the legislative competence of the House as it violates the limits on legislation set by the Supreme Court in its judgment (Puttaswamy vs Union of India),” Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said. His party colleague Manish Tiwari added, “The linking of voter IDs and Aadhaar violates the fundamental right to privacy as defined by the Supreme Court in the judgment.”

They have also argued that allowing the Aadhaar-voter ID link could lead to more non-citizens voting in the country.

Besides the Congress, MK Stalin’s DMK, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, and the BSP have opposed the new laws.

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