Gujarat to make voting compulsory in civic polls: Reports

Mangalore Today News Network

Gandhinagar, June 15, 2015: Gujarat Governor OP Kohli has reportedly given green signal to the compulsory voting bill, which makes it mandatory for the citizens to vote in the civic polls.

 

According to news channels, the voters will be penalised if they fail to cast their votes in the forthcoming polls.

The move has drawn sharp criticism from the state’s main opposition party, Congress, while the ruling BJP has hailed the decision.

Gujarat Health Minister Nitin Patel last week announced that the government plans to implement compulsory voting during the forthcoming local body polls.

Patel made this announcement after a meeting with officials of the Gujarat Election Commission.

However, Patel also admitted that it is not an easy task for the administration to implement compulsory voting since the state Election Commission raised various concerns during the meeting.

Briefing reporters about the development, Patel said that the number of electronic voting machines to be used during local body polls would have to be increased significantly to cope with the higher voter turnout.

Similarly, the Election Commission also expressed concerns about the time available for each voter to cast vote, since the number of candidates per ward in each municipal corporation has increased from three to four, Patel said.

"The Election Commission shared some of its concerns related to the promposed compulsory voting rule. They told us that if we implement the rule, we have to increase the number of electronic voting machines keeping in mind the higher voter turnout," Patel said.

According to him, voter turnout could rise to almost 90 percent, while it generally remains at around 70 percent during local body polls. In addition, each voter would have to be given more time to choose four representatives per ward as against three in the past, he said.

"Keeping in mind high voter turnout of almost 90 percent, we have to increase the total number of booths to accommodate additional voters. We also have to keep in mind that candidates per ward is now four, and not three. These were some of concerns raised by the EC," Patel said.

When asked if the government would be able to cope with these problems and implement the rule during the forthcoming polls, Patel said that the government would take a final call on the issue soon.

Local body polls to 253 municipalities, 208 taluka panchayats, 26 district panchayats and six municipal corporations are expected to be held in the October month.

Earlier last year, the Gujarat Governor had given his approval to the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2011, which makes voting mandatory in civic polls and has a provision of punishment.

However, after some prominent citizens, law experts and Congress leaders protested against the rule, the state government formed a committee and asked citizens to convey their opinions or suggestions to the committee.

The committee headed by retired IAS officer KC Kapoor compiled these suggestions and recently submitted a report to the Gujarat government.

 

Courtesy: Zeenews