Compulsory Voting

Nod for must-vote bill
BASANT RAWAT

Ahmedabad, Dec. 19: The Gujarat Assembly today passed a bill making voting mandatory in elections to local self-government bodies, the landmark legislation coming under scrutiny from constitutional experts who said it violated the principles of freedom of expression.

A brainchild of chief minister Narendra Modi, the controversial legislation, called Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2009, will now have to be approved by the governor and the President for it to become law.

The bill also seeks to raise the reservation of seats for women in local self-government bodies from 33 to 50 per cent.

Under the legislation, a person who fails to vote for reasons other than those mentioned on the list of exemptions would be declared a “defaulter”. Penal clauses will be introduced for which rules will be framed later.

“It is observed that due to low turnout of voters to discharge their duty by exercising their right to vote, the true spirit of the will of the people is not reflected in the electoral mandate,” said the bill’s statement of objects and reasons.

The Congress was against clubbing the two provisions — compulsory voting and raising of women’s reservation — in the same bill. The party said it opposed “compulsory voting”, but said it was for an enhanced women’s quota since it was a progressive idea.

“Voting is a right, not duty,” said Congress legislature party leader Shaktisinh Gohil.

With the Congress opposing it, the bill was passed in the Assembly by voice vote today, the last day of the winter session.

Modi, who was absent from the House during the debate, defended the bill, saying: “Democracy will become more participatory.”

“We are ready to sit and discuss with everyone — academics and the Opposition — to frame the rules and work out the details about how to go about it,” Modi told reporters on the Assembly premises.

Social scientist Tridip Suhrud debunked the theory of low voter turnout in local elections. He said the average voting percentage in these elections was around 70, nearly 15 to 20 percentage points higher than those in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

Constitutional expert Anand Yagnik said the legislation amounted to taking away a citizen’s fundamental right.

“The right to vote is a part of freedom of expression, guaranteed in the Constitution. Freedom of expression gives the right to vote, and not to vote as well,” he said.

Political observers said Modi wanted to further entrench himself in the state, given that the BJP’s performance in the Lok Sabha polls had been below expectations.

“The BJP’s superior organisational structure means that it can mobilise more voters,” Suhrud said.


While I agree that casting your vote is an important part of democracy and everybody should use the opportunity to cast his vote for the CANDIDATE OF HIS CHOICE.
Note my capital letters.
Suppose I do not find any suitable and that is the rule nowadays instead of an exception as 90% of the candidates are criminals, including Modi, for what he did in the aftermath of Godhra.
Why should I vote for criminals?
If you are making voting compulsory, then we should also be allowed to cast a negative vote if we find no candidate suitable.
Further, a bank of suitable, professional, honest people should be kept ready by the President in consultation with the Chief justice of India.
If the negative votes in any constituency exceeds those of any other candidate, a person from the bank should be appointed to represent the constituency.
If a name is deleted from the voters list with the connivance of political parties, who is responsible.
I have not been able to vote in the last Parliamentary and Assembly election since my name had been deleted from the voter's list.
In spite of writing to the state election commission and submitting required application forms, my name was not included during the assembly election.
Who will take responsibility if my name is not there?
Still further, we in Bengal have had to face the prospect of going to the polling booth and finding out that our vote had been cast. Earlier this was done by the CPM and now probably it will be done by the Trinumul for the same criminals have just shifted allegiance.
Who will take responsibility if my vote is cast by some impersonator with the full knowledge of the polling officer.
No, my dear Modi.
First set your house in order.
Give us honest politicians to vote to.
Then only ask us to vote compulsorily.