Voting to be mandatory in Gujarat

While the state government is planning to get the compulsory voting bill passed in the monsoon session, the issue of punishment for not voting in the election after the bill is passed has been ruled out by the government.

It is to be noted that the state government had passed Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2009 in the Assembly in December, 2009. The bill was returned by the governor on April 17 this year for reconsideration.

The reason cited by the governor was, it impinges on the article 19(1) of the constitution, which is related to the freedom of expression. Moreover, the exclusion was also taken by the governor for clubbing the provision of 50 per cent reservation for women in the local body elections with the compulsory voting bill.

However, Nitin Patel, State Urban Development minister ruled out the clause of punitive action against the people who would miss voting. He said, "Much hue and cry was made about the compulsory voting bill, but it should be clear that, there has not been any provision made for punitive action. Assembly is for making the law and the state government is to ensure effective implementation of the law and for that, once any bill is passed by the assembly and signed by the governor, it becomes a law following which rules for its implementations are made."

He further said, "In this compulsory voting bill issue, it is passed in the assembly and not yet signed by the governor so it has not taken shape of a law. Once the bill is passed again in the assembly and signed by the governor, the state government will appoint a committee to make rules of implementation of the law. We will also ask state election commission to consult and discuss with all political parties to decide on the issue of what should be done in case people do not vote in the election after the implementation of the compulsory voting law. "

Bill is provided for declaring a voter who fails to turn up to vote as a defaulter and they would be asked to clarify for their failure in voting. If found guilty by the administration, the proposed punishments included being deprived of below poverty line (BPL) card, government service, or subsidised loan and so on.

However the minister ruled out any such possibilities of punishments. He said, "We would be appointing the committee not for suggesting the punitive actions but giving suggestion over how to ensure maximum participation in the election by giving them some more benefits and priorities in the government schemes."