Every voter must be thoroughly aware about the electoral processes
Every voter must be thoroughly aware about the electoral processes:- Nasim Zaidi, the Chief Election Commissioner on Wednesday has said that the idea of compulsory voting has not been found practical.
“The voter is the central point of the electoral framework and also every voter must be thoroughly aware and educated about our electoral processes and the various procedures, so as to ensure his or her informed and ethical participation,” he said while inaugurating a global conference on the voter education titled Voter Education for Inclusive, Informed and Ethical Participation, which is being organised by the Election Commission and the United Nations Development Programme from October 19 to October 21 in the capital.
In February, while further responding to a private member’s bill which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on compulsory voting, then the Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said, though he had appreciated the intention of the members, it would not be possible for the government to further introduce compulsory voting and penalize those who failed to exercise their franchise.
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Compulsory voting as “highly undesirable”
The Law Commission also in its report on the electoral reforms submitted in March last year, also decided against the recommending compulsory voting by further terming it as “highly undesirable” for a variety of reasons such as being undemocratic, expensive, illegitimate, unable to improve quality political participation and awareness, and difficult to further implement.
Later, responding to a question on the holding of simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, Zaidi said that the apex poll watchdog had told a Parliamentary committee and also the Ministry of Law and Justice that such an exercise could be further undertaken if political parties were unanimous about amending the Constitution and the government accepted the poll panel’s demands.
