Mandatory voting Bill passed

The Bill was passed by a majority vote even though Chief Minister Narendra Modi was absent during the proceedings. Later,Leader of the Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil told The Sunday Express,“It was ironic that Modi himself did not participate in the voting on the Bill that seeks to make voting compulsory for people in the local body polls.”

Gohil also opposed the government’s decision to club the provision of 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies in the Bill with that of mandatory voting. “The Congress supports the provision of 50 per cent reservation for women,but not compulsory voting in elections to local bodies. This is unconstitutional,” he said.

Moving the Bill in the House,State Urban Development Minister Nitin Patel said the main objective of making voting compulsory was to involve the voter in strengthening the democratic process and bring him to the polling booth. It empowers an election officer to be designated by the State Election Commission to declare the voter,who fails to vote in the elections,as “defaulter voter”.

The government will also list the disadvantages and consequences to be suffered by the “defaulter voter”,Patel said,adding,“It’s not the sole objective of the government to punish the voter who may fail to vote,but to encourage him to spare some time to exercise his right to vote in a local body election that comes once in five years.”

Earlier,Gohil had said that mandatory voting would amount to a violation of Fundamental Rights enshrined in the Constitution. The move would negatively impact the poor,middle class and rural voters. “The Bill seeks to exempt the rich voter from voting if he travels out of Gujarat on poll day,but it provides to punish the poor if he leaves station in search of livelihood,” Gohil argued.

Gohil said mandatory voting has failed in countries like Austria and The Netherlands. A popular movement against compulsory voting in Australia is also on. “Voting should be a right,not a duty,” he said,adding that “even our Parliament had in the recent past rejected a Bill seeking mandatory voting”.

Meanwhile,CM Narendra Modi,in a statement issued late in the evening,sought to justify the Bill. He said that this initiative taken by Gujarat as part of the electoral reforms would not only help strengthen the democracy,but also reduce the poll expenditure and curb the use of black money in the elections.