New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) A BJP member on Tuesday accused the Congress, TMC and the CPI(M) of including lakhs of bogus votes in the voters list and alleged that they were opposing the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill only to save their vote banks.

Participating in the discussion on the bill in Rajya Sabha, Sushil Kumar Modi (BJP) alleged that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has achieved success and won elections in West Bengal only because of this bogus list of voters.

Also Read | Ugandan Woman Held at Indira Gandhi International Airport With Heroin (Watch Video).

He said the opposition members were opposing the bill even while they were part of the standing committee that unanimously recommended for supporting the law to amend the election laws.

He said linking of Aadhaar number with voters list was only optional, and it is not mandatory and no name will be deleted from the electoral rolls if they do not give their Aadhaar.

Also Read | Omicron 3 Times More Transmissible Than Delta Variant of COVID-19, Says Centre.

"The truth is that the Congress and TMC are opposing this bill as they have got lakhs of bogus names added to the voter lists across the country and their vote bank comprises of names which are included four times in their voter list.

"If the TMC has won in Bengal and has been successful, it is because of the bogus votes that it has got registered. The TMC and Congress are opposing it because of this only," the BJP leader claimed.

However, the charge was rejected as “baseless” by TMC member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, who also said he wanted to submit his dissent note and had sought time, but was not granted so.

"If the voter list is linked to Aadhaar number, lakhs of bogus names who had wrongly got themselves registered, all of them will be deleted and this is their fear. Only to save their vote bank, these people are opposing the bill," Modi said further.

"In Kerala too, the CPI(M) has got a large number of bogus votes included in the voters list there," the BJP member alleged.

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in our democracy, the electoral process should be cleansed and that can happen only if the electoral rolls are clean.

"This bill will be opposed only by those who take advantage of fake voting. Otherwise there is no basis of opposing this bill," he said while replying to the discussion.

He said the entire country will welcome this bill that seeks to put an end to fake voters and remove multiple votes from electoral rolls, but will not forgive those who oppose it.

Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) termed the bill as "draconian" and said it will disenfranchise the poor and those of weaker sections.

"This is a draconian law which will prevent the poor who do not have Aadhaar card from exercising their franchise. I oppose this bill. The intention is clear," he alleged.

G K Vasan TMC(M) said this bill will help put an end to fake voters and urged for its passage.

Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar (TDP) said it is another step towards electoral reforms. "Why is the government hesitant to bring political parties under the ambit of RTI?" he asked.

Amee Yagnik (Congress) opposed the bill, saying, "It is a violation of the right of privacy granted to citizens. It will disenfranchise a large number of voters and exploit the voters.”

Mohammed Abdulla of DMK also strongly opposed the bill.

A Navaneethakrishana (AIADMK) said the government rightly brought the bill to prevent double voters and impersonation.

Sujeet Kumar (BJD) said on behalf of his party, he supports the bill, but has some concerns and hope the government will address these concerns.

"We wholeheartedly support the intent of the government to weed out bogus voters. This linking of voters list with Aadhaar number may lead to disfranchising some voters, particularly those of weaker sections and minorities.

"It may lead to targeted political advertisement. There is also a possibility of compromising the privacy of individuals. In principle, we support the bill, but we want the government to address our concerns," he said.

V Sivadasan (CPI-M) said, "The government is trying to kill democracy through this bill. They are trying to delete the names of voters from voters list. Voting right should be given to everybody, including the members who are suspended."

Venkataramana Rao Mopidevi (YSRCP) and Ram Nath Thakur (JDU) supported the bill.

Earlier, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma (both Congress) and Derek O'Brien (TMC) said the bill has been brought in a hurry, leaving no time for them to even move motions to send it to select committees. They said it was “undemocratic”.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)