By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 23: The NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government has come out in support of the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, passed by the Parliament on Tuesday, asserting that the law will curb the practice of the dual citizenship of residents living along the Meghalaya-Assam interstate border.
Hailing the Bill, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Thursday said not less than 80% of the interstate border population possesses dual EPIC which is illegal, and the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill will do away with such practices.
“The spirit of the law recommended by the Election Commission is one person, one epic,” Tynsong said while reacting to the State Congress’ opposition to the Bill.
The Congress has urged the state government and the Centre to exempt Meghalaya from its purview.
State congress working president, PN Syiem had said, “They have passed the bill to link epic and Aadhaar that also was done in a hurry because as of now people in Meghalaya are still opposed to the Aadhaar drive. We will urge state and central government not to apply this in Meghalaya as the people are very much opposed to it”.
In sharp contrast, the Meghalaya Peoples’ Committee on Aadhaar (MPCA) opposed the Bill, saying that the electoral reforms is unconstitutional as Aadhaar enrolment sans Data Protection Law is violative of the Right to Privacy and the new law will go a long way in denying the voting rights of the citizens of India.
“The new election law exposes the citizens of India and subsequently jeopardizes their fundamental right to privacy. Thus, this action of the NDA Government at the Centre is highly objectionable,” MPCA said in a statement on Thursday.
Asserting that MPCA had opposed implementation of Aadhaar on constitutional ground that the Act violates the citizens’ right to privacy, the statement said linking EPIC with Aadhaar is going to take away citizens’ rights to vote.
“There is a precedent to this in Telangana where it was found that about 2.2 million voters were missing from the electoral rolls which included the name of famous Indian shuttler, Jwala Gutta. Justice Srikrishna, who once headed the Data Protection Commission, had sounded an alert and warned that linking of Aadhaar with voters ID is a dangerous thing to do,” the MPCA statement said.
Pointing out that linking Aadhaar to voter ID will lead to chaos and create complications, MPCA said the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act in which selected religious communities from selected countries can become citizens of India has posed a threat to the tribal community in Meghalaya.
The MPCA also asserted that they will explore possibilities of challenging the new law as per the Constitution.