After Aadhaar linking, govt moving for common voters list

After the legislature on linking the Aadhaar number with the voter's ID, the government is planning for a common electoral roll. The central government is organising a meeting with state election commissioners soon to try to convince them to adopt a uniform electoral roll for elections to the legislature, assembly, and local governments.

The common electoral roll is also among the promises made by the BJP in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections last year.

Why do we have multiple voters lists?

In many states, the voters’ list for the panchayat and municipality elections is different from the one used for Parliament and Assembly elections. In addition to the Election Commission (EC) of India, there are the State Election Commissions (SECs). The SECs have the responsibility of supervising municipal and panchayat elections. They are free to prepare their own electoral rolls for local body elections, and this exercise does not have to be coordinated with the EC.

Do all states have a separate voters list for their local body elections?

Each state's SEC is governed by its own law. The SEC is allowed by some state statutes to borrow and use the EC's voter rolls in their entirety during local body elections. In others, the state commission bases its preparation and modification of municipal and panchayat election rolls on the EC's voter list.

Except for Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, all states currently use the EC's rolls for local body elections.

Why is the government working on a common electoral roll?

In its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections 2019, the BJP had promised a uniform electoral roll. A uniform electoral roll and simultaneous elections have been pushed by the government as a way to save time and money. 

Since 2002, when Justice M N Venkatachaliah, who led the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution, suggested a common electoral roll for elections to Panchayati raj institutions, state assemblies, and Parliament, the topic of a common electoral roll has been on the table.

In its sixth report on local governance in 2007, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission recommended that local government laws allow for the use of assembly electoral records for the local government without the need for State Election Commissions to revise names. In its 255th Report on Electoral Reform published in 2015, the Law Commission of India advocated for the use of a single electoral roll for elections to the Parliament, the state legislatures, and local governments. The BJP's Sushil Kumar Modi chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, which convened a planned hearing on the 'Status of Common Electoral Roll for Conducting Elections in the Country.

The plan was rejected by opposition members in the committee, including TMC's Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Congress' Deepender Hooda, and DMK's P Wilson, who said that it was an infringement on state rights. According to reports, several members of the opposition argued that the Centre lacked the power or authority to alter the powers granted to the State Election Commission by the Constitution.

Secretary of the Legislative Department Reeta Vasishta and members of the Election Commission gave the Committee a presentation on the status of the common electoral roll. The government has informed the Committee that it plans to meet with state election commissioners soon in order to persuade them to adopt a uniform electoral roll.

Currently, the administration is opposed to altering the law, but it is working to persuade the state to adopt a unified electoral roll.