Click to play videoThe Gujarat Assembly on Saturday passed a bill making voting compulsory in all local self government bodies. This is the first such move in the country.
The bill empowers the election officer designated by the state election commission to declare people who do not cast their vote as defaulter voters. They shall subsequently be notified and will have an opportunity to present their reason within a month
This brings us to the question of the day that was asked on CNN-IBN show Face The Nation: Gujarat makes voting compulsory: should voting be mandatory?
To try and answer the question on the panel of experts were: MP and Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari, Gujarat Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas, former CEC T S Krishnamurthy and Lok Satta president Jayaprakash Narayan.
At the start of the show, 83 per cent of those who voted in said yes, voting should be mandatory while 17 per cent disagreed.
Right To Vote
Opening the debate, Manish Tewari said it is inherently undemocratic to make voting mandatory.
“It is as much my right to keep myself out of the democratic process as it is my right to participate. If one looks at the bill closely I have specific objections to section 16 (b) which says punitive consequences would visit you in case you don’t exercise your franchise. It militates against the spirit of constitution,” said the MP.
To this Jay Narayan Vyas objected and said the Congress is trying to see a ghost where it is not present.
“For the larger good of a democracy if you accept some minor limitations of the fundamental rights, which better connect candidates and voters, there is nothing wrong in it,” he said.
Tewari reiterated his definition of democracy and said compulsion can’t encourage voters to vote.
“If you want more voting let the politicians be more responsive. Let them inspire confidence in the people that if we come out and vote it will bring about a real change,” he emphasised.
Democracy By Force
T S Krishnamurthy explained that conceptually everyone finds it very attractive to make voting compulsory but unfortunately in the Asian and African countries very few people really turn up at the polling booths to exercise their right to vote.
“Methods have to be found out to attract voters to the polling stations. Some kinds of incentives are required to attract voters in Asian and African countries,” he said.
Jayaprakash Narayan agreed with Tewari and said he is a libertarian at heart and believes that constitution should be followed.
“We must face facts. Most of the educated, middle class, urban and youth believe that voting makes no difference. These are the people whom we need to make understand that voting is important,” he said.
“In the recent Hyderabad elections 43 per cent of the people who voted, I can tell you 30 per cent of the voters’ votes were bought by one or the other party with money and liquor,” Jayaprakash pointed out.
Concluding the debate he suggested that there should be incentives to vote and not penalties for the defaulters.
“Urban voters need to come out of this belief that standing in queues for voting is an insult,” Jayaprakash emphasised.
Meanwhile, Tewari suggested that internet voting can be a good option to encourage urban voters to exercise their right to vote.
Results of the SMS/web poll:
Yes – 72 per cent
No – 28 per cent
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