India can consider making voting compulsory: Niti Aayog CEO
New Delhi, May 2: Campaigning gained momentum for the rest three phases of the elections of Lok Sabha elections. All party leaders are addressing rallies and stressed to meet voters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to come out and participate in this festival of democracy. India can consider making voting compulsory like in Australia to encourage rich and middle class to cast their ballots, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said Wednesday.
Many social media awareness campaigns, NGOs took efforts and launched programs to promote voting. But still, voter turnout in four phases of the election was not satisfactory. The issue of compulsory voting has cropped up several times within and outside Parliament.
Kant's statement comes against the backdrop of low voter turnout witnessed in several urban areas of India in ongoing general elections. In Mumbai, less than 52 per cent voting was witnessed in the Lok Sabha polls held on April 29.
"Australia too is in the midst of its federal elections. Voting is compulsory and those who do not vote are fined USD 20.
"In case of non-payment, you can be taken to court and liable to be jailed. Seeing the apathy of rich and middle-class voters in urban cities of India this is worth a try," he said in a tweet.
In February last year, while responding to a private member's bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on compulsory voting, then Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda had said though he appreciated the intention of the members, it would not be possible for the government to introduce compulsory voting and penalise those who failed to exercise their franchise.
But it was Dr S.Y Quraishi, the former Chief Election Commissioner, who had the most fitting reply for Kant. "No Mr Kant, your right to vote includes the right not to vote. In NOTA judgement, SC has made it clear that it is your fundament right, while the right to vote is a statutory right. Think of millions of daily wagers who will be harassed for non-voting," Quraishi wrote on Twitter.
