Govt considering to link Aadhaar with electoral rolls: Rijiju

The government is considering proposals for linking Aadhaar with the electoral rolls to check fraudulent voting and granting of online voting to Indians working abroad, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in Lok Sabha on Friday.

Rijiju said electoral fraud is a serious matter and the government is considering at the union law minister's level how to check fraudulent voting.

“Linking Aadhaar with the electoral roll is one of the ways. As of now linking Aadhaar with electoral rolls is voluntary. Our aim is to ensure 'one nation, one electoral roll' to check double names in electoral rolls and fraudulent voting and ensure a clean voting process,” he said during Question Hour.

Replying to a supplementary on the proposal to grant voting rights to 'Pravasi' Indians, the minister said the government has suggested to the Election Commission to look into how to give voting rights to those Indians who are working abroad or whether to allow them online voting.

“But before taking any decision, we have to ensure safety and transparency of the process and that it is free from malfunctioning,” he said.

When Congress member Manish Tewari asked whether the source code of the EVMs remains with the company which manufactures the EVMs or it is passed on to the EC, Rijiju said it was like appointment of judges.

“The judges are appointed by the government but once they are appointed, they become independent. No one should question the EVMs and there should not be any inference too,” he said.

As Tewari insisted that he did not get the proper reply to his question, Speaker Om Birla intervened and said the world over the Indian democracy and its electoral process was being highly praised.

Birla said during his travel to many countries, people have shown very high regards for Indian democracy.

He said it is the biggest democracy in the world and yet it conducts the elections so smoothly.

People say that they have not seen such a good system working in such a big country and everyone should appreciate the system, he said.

Rijiju said “We want maximum voting and a healthy system. India's election system has been termed as the best system in the world”.

Replying to another question, he said there is no proposal under consideration of the government to enact any law to enforce compulsory voting in the country.

Neither the government can force those who are in jails to give votes as they are under the jurisdiction of the courts, he said.

“We want maximum voting and a healthy system. People from the whole world appreciate our system,” he said.