Opinion Should India lower its voting age?

On the other hand, working-class children and other marginalised young people are fighting for basic rights to living conditions, healthcare, dignity, and justice. Mexican anthropologist Valentina Glockner discusses how non-state actors engage with migrant Adivasi and Dalit children who work in Bangalore, an urban city in southern India, to educate them and support them in accessing their rights. She argues that in the interactions between the children and the NGO staff, it was apparent that working children are highly vocal and aware of the injustices they face, yet operate within the context of the “weight that the existing social and symbolic order places upon them.”

Children today are engaging in rights-based movements for their futures and are invested in civic and political issues at as early as 11 years old. Their investment in the future can contribute to the growth of the nation, and hence, including their voices is essential.

B R Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, among other things, advocated for democracy as a tool for ensuring social and economic equality. As children continue to hold low social, economic, and educational standing, a criterion for being a minority according to Ambedkar, I argue that they are minorities who are marginalised and ought to be enfranchised. Historically, marginalised communities were disenfranchised owing to their low social status and consequently, low literacy rates. Today, many of the arguments against granting children the right to vote, or lowering the age of voting below 18 years, a general standard across most countries, are akin to those made at the time of India’s Independence, wherein there was a resistance to include “poor” and landless persons as enfranchised. For instance, many members of the Indian Constituent Assembly in 1947 were against a universal adult franchise. I wrote elsewhere, “Some members argued that it was an ‘impractical endeavour’ as there was limited education in India, and the vote would be a ‘dangerous weapon’ in the hands of the uneducated or the illiterate. Such expressions are nothing less than how the British displayed colonial and racist ideologies of domination and exclusion, as they sought to limit the franchise to the privileged alone.” (Dar, 2022, p. 122).

Recently, the UK government announced their plans to include 16-17-year-old children as registered voters. This move is being discussed as bringing about a parity in the voting age across the island, including Scotland and Wales, which have already reduced the voting age for their citizens to 16 years. In 1988, in a watershed moment, India’s 61st constitutional amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 years. This change was brought about to increase the participation of the youth in the electoral process of the country. Low voter turnout, especially among young voters, has been a major cause of concern for the Election Commission of India (ECI).

In the UK, young people are responding excitedly to the prospect of a lowered voting age. They are asking for the education system to include materials on political and civic education at earlier stages in schools. While engaging in such studies, young people will also be interested in participating in and testing out their right to vote. These educational programmes may also encourage greater voter turnout at earlier ages.

Globally, several other countries, including Germany, Austria, Malta, Estonia, Argentina, Nicaragua, and some others, have lowered their voting age from 18 to 16 years. Since many children are employed at 16 years in India, and are taxpayers, they also ought to have the right to vote for the representatives who may best serve their interests. Given greater global connectivity and meanings of shared global childhoods and youth across class backgrounds, there is a need to include children in the democratic processes through the franchise, enabling a more just present and future. At the very least, enfranchisement offers a universal parity to all citizens for political representation, and creates avenues for greater accountability directly towards the young.
India should not be far behind in considering what is becoming a global move vis-à-vis suffrage rights for children.

Many young people in this country are politically motivated and have been at the forefront of several political and ecological issues that concern our collective futures. Thus, to strengthen their collective voices and aspirations for a just and shared future, it is crucial that they have a political voice. The right to vote would ensure greater accountability from our political leaders, who tend to, at best, dismiss young people as petulant or, worse, as easy targets of state repression. Lowering the voting age would also broaden the election manifestos with a greater focus on child rights, quality education, and gender justice.

The writer is associate professor, BML Munjal University