New Delhi: Drawing the battlelines for the second half of the Budget session of Parliament, which starts on March 10, various Opposition parties, including the Congress, are preparing to push a raft of notices seeking a debate on the duplicate voter I-card issue, with people aware of the matter saying the Opposition will also try to stall the controversial Waqf law amendments in “a democratic manner”.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have, in a consorted manner, submitted multiple notices in both Houses, demanding a discussion under different rules like short-duration discussion, calling attention, and Rule 377 over the duplication of Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers in West Bengal, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh — an issue that has triggered fresh Opposition attack on the government and the Election Commission (EC).
Friday was the last day to move notices for Monday—the first day of the second half of the Budget session.
The Congress has also joined in, with a senior party leader saying: “We were the first party to flag concerns about the electoral process. This is certainly a big issue for us.”
Opposition leaders said they will raise the serious matter, which has a bearing on free and fair elections, in Parliament.
“Since EPIC number is linked to voter details, a duplicate EPIC number will lead to denial of voting rights. The EC handbook clearly states that EPIC numbers are supposed to be unique and consist of an alphanumeric sequence, with the first three letters being specific to an Assembly constituency. It is impossible for voters in two different assembly constituencies (even in the same state) to have the same first three letters on their EPIC. Voters in different states have been found to have the same EPIC numbers” a TMC leader said, requesting anonymity.
“EC needs to start by disclosing how many duplicate EPICs exist within the system and how they got assigned. Why is the EC still unable to ensure unique EPIC numbers for every voter?” the leader added.
The second half of the ongoing budget session will continue till April 4.
The Congress has announced that the Opposition will lodge a major protest against the changes proposed to the Waqf law as and when they come for passage. Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh argued that the Waqf amendment bill has not been discussed “properly” in the joint committee of Parliament.
Pointing to the Opposition’s greater strength in the Lok Sabha, he said: “Earlier we didn’t have the numbers but this time we have the numbers…we will definitely protest against this in Lok Sabha, even in Rajya Sabha where we don’t have much seats but we will still protest. We are not just protesting to protest but this (the waqf bill) was not discussed properly in JPC. The JPC functioned as a dictatorship and basic terms of reference didn’t happen.”
Waqf bill will probably come in the second half of the budget session, and I have no doubt that Congress will oppose this (and) even many other parties will oppose this,” the Rajya Sabha member added.
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