Governor returns Modis mandatory voting Bill

In a setback to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,Governor Kamla Beniwal has returned a Bill seeking to make voting mandatory in the state on the ground that the legislation violates the Constitution. She has also expressed objection to the punishment clause for those choosing not to vote.

Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt said the Bill,passed by the Gujarat Assembly in December 2009,was returned a few days back. The main objection cited by the Governor is that the Bill violates constitutional provision which does not allow voting to be made mandatory and that no punishment can be meted out for not participating in the exercise of voting, a senior official in the Assembly Secretariat said. Moreover,the Governor also noted that the mandatory voting Bill be separated from the Bill seeking 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies election. The Gujarat government had clubbed together the two Bills putting Opposition Congress in a dilemma as it had favoured the Womens Reservation Bill but was opposed to the mandatory voting Bill.