Former Chief Election Commissioner S. Y. Quraishi opposed the demand of making voting compulsory saying that one’s right to vote also includes the right to abstain from it. He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Democracy and its Importance to Minorities’ in the city on Sunday.
“I am against the demand to make voting compulsory because compulsion and democracy do not go together,” said Mr. Quraishi.
Pointing at the potential legal consequences of making voting compulsory, he said that if this was done, then abstaining from voting would be a violation of law. He also said that it would add a huge number of cases to the ones already in court.
“In such cases, one will get a court notice if he does not vote and it will add about 30 crore court cases to the ones already pending,” said Mr. Quraishi.
He also said that it will be the poor who will suffer most in such a situation and they will be exploited by corrupt officials.
Referring to a Supreme Court judgement in September 2013, Mr. Quraishi said that in the judgement the “None of the Above (NOTA) option was raised to the status of a fundamental right”.
In such a situation, it would not be proper to make voting compulsory, he said.
In July 2015, the Gujarat Government issued a notification making voting compulsory for the people during local body elections. The Bill in this regard was introduced in the State Assembly when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the State Chief Minister. Even though the Act had penal provisions for those who abstained from voting, it did not specify any punitive measures.
