After connecting Aadhaar data with Election ID, Maha Vikas Aghadi raises concerns regarding citizen privacy

After connecting Aadhaar data with Election ID, the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress have expressed severe concerns about citizen privacy. In a letter to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that integrating Aadhaar data with Election ID violates citizens' constitutional right to privacy and harms democracy. The MVA partners were reacting to the Lok Sabha's adoption of The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 on Monday, which was passed by voice vote.

"In the bill, it has been highlighted about the country’s legal and fundamental rights to privacy including the lack of a law that protects data susceptible and permits for the misuse of important and personal information. It also violates election confidentiality," Chaturvedi argued. She went on to say that combining Aadhaar and Voter Identity is unconstitutional and an unneeded ploy to undermine democratic elections. "The bill will likely have a negative impact on the voters with it being dubious, people will be losing confidence in the democratic process and system," he said.

Nawab Malik, the NCP's Chief spokesman and Maharashtra's Minority Affairs Minister, said that the voters' list needed to be cleaned up because there had been duplication or triplication of names in different parts of the country. Satej Patil, Maharashtra's Minister of State for Home and Information Technology, said the Bill has been pushed in an attempt to scare voters. The BJP government is defying the Supreme Court's orders in an undemocratic manner. Bills that are passed without debate are not only inconvenient, but they are also an insult to our democracy" he stated.

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