Gujarat All set To Witness Compulsory Voting In Civic Polls

15 June,Ahmedabad

Gujarat is all set to witness compulsory voting in the forth coming municipal and panchayat elections. This could be the first instance in the country of mandatory voting in civic elections involving millions of voters.

According to sources, Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has decided to go ahead with the compulsory voting in civic polls after the assembly passed the law and governor has given his nod.

State Election Commissioner Monday had a meeting with Chief Minister in this connection. However, official announcement in this regard is still awaited.

Gujarat became the first state to make voting compulsory in local polls after State Governor Shri O.P. Kohli sanctioned the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill in 2014. The law was passed in 2009 and again in 2011 in the state assembly but it gets the approval of Governor in November 2014.

The law empowers the state election commission to declare an absent voter as “defaulter”, except in case of illness or if he or she is out of station.

It says an absentee voter will face penal action, without specifying the nature of punishment. However, opposition Congress party is against the move of compulsory voting terming it as an anti-constitutional.