Voting to be made compulsory.... ?

Rekha Yerrwar, who is with Bharathi Airtel, posted the following question:

" The Gujarat Assembly has passed a bill making voting compulsory in all local self government bodies. This is the first such move in the country. Do you think the compulsory voting in polls will help increase the voter turnout in the country? Please share what's your take on this? "

*Question:* Will the compulsory voting in polls help increase the voter ""

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Hi Rekha Yerrwar,

You havn't mentioned your view on Gujarat Assembly passing a bill making voting compulsory in all local self government bodies and yet want to know my take on an interesting aspect which Modi's government has raised! Fine.

I am sure you must have seen many people raising their eyebrows and heard raising their voices: ' How can you impose a bill on people making it compulsory to vote in a democratic country like India ?' What is democracy after all ? It is nothing but a rule by a majority, of the people, for the people, and by the people. Is it really happening throught the country ? If you go by voters turnout all over the country and do a thorouh survey of the past, one will realise that in some parts voting percentage is better and in some parts it is unsatisfactory. Whenever the turn out is more it is not becuse of mature turn out of people but because of deliberate 'waves' created by political parties on the eve of election , which means , or amounts to , manipulation of people. In a mature democracy, you do not 'manipulate' people. The true democracy survives to a large extent where large populace of country is literate. When we talk of literate people in our country we need to be more careful and watchful, as we do come across many people who are technically literate but are worse than illeterate persons. Our country is not an exception when it comes to such issues, as such things happen in other countries as well. If that is the case why crib about increasing the literacy level ? When the literacy level goes up, the percentage of people who are literate but 'behave'( not reading and writing-which is just technical ) worse than illeterate people comes down drastically for reasons that need not to be elaborated.

In almost all developed countries ( Japan, UK, USA, Europe etc) the literacy level is very high - more than 80% and going up to as high as 95% in some countries. Is there any linkage to literacy and development ? The answer is certain yes. Our country is developing(not yet developed!) and our literacy level is also going up side by side, despite myopia of our politivcians.

There is too much of brinkmanship in our political system. Nowhere in the world would we come across recognised political parties exceeding 450+ in numbers and all fighting for people's causes ! Do you call this a democracy ? It seems like a mobcracy exploited by power hungry animals - politicians !

China is not a democracy where central authority is shrewedly used for the benefit of the country. If one goes back to 40-45 years, the China's overall position was pathetic - economically at the downhill, outcast from the world and UNO and the survival of the nation was at stake. Although an authoritarian country, they liberlised their policies much earlier than us and where are they today ? They are competing with USA, and have become a big economic threat to Europe and other developed countries ! India being democratic country ought have got liberted (liberlised economic policies ) long long back but got entrapped itself under the guise of so called socialism under democracy and people were at the receiving end because of immature and high handed politicians with myopic outlook for their gains. It is only when literacy level goes up substantially , politicans of low or no integraty can be checked out.

In our democracy, when the elections are held, the turn out of people to vote for in up markets or by the elite class ( literacy level is almost 90+%) is low and voting percentage in lower middle class areas ( literacy level: 20 tp 30%) is abnormally high ! Is it an abnormal contradiction in the system ! Is it not a paradox in the voting pattern ? How do you reduce this contradiction and shift the paradox ? It is only by making people aware of their rights and, unfortunately, it is not happening, despite 61 years of indepndendence., depite news papers and other media channels. This means there is something terribly wrong with the psyche of people who seems to be disoriented and disconnected with the entire system for whatever reasons, and yet the system survives and life goes on and on...

Now coming to your simple question ( but difficult to answetr in one or two sentences!) whether voting should be made compulsory in all local self government bodies. The whole world knows how our Government babus work and govern themselves and how effective and efficient are they in discharging their duties! They are getting their salaries NOT for fully discharging their duties! Whenever election hoilidays are declared they are wild happy , as if so many other public hoilidays are not enough. What do they do on such election holidays ( which is extended to everyone just to exercise their franchise) ? They just do not turn up for voting and when it comes to discussion on topis of their interest they strart talking of therir rights ! Such things will continue to happen in pseudo-democracy like ours!

One of the principle of benevolent dictatorship ( which is better than a democdacy of semi illeterate people) highlights the importance of surgical operations to put sense in to the iminds of people to reralise what is good for them and what is good for their contry. Keeping this view in mind, voting can be made compulsory for 2 to 3 elections till it becomes a habit for the people with the involvement of their consciousness in the interest of the country.

But, alas, when you try to 'impose' something there is always a rebound action of negation and whenever anything starts as a benevolvement dictatorship turns out to be a bloody dictatorship in due course of time.

All over the world, democracies have stood the test of times, with all the shortcomings built in the system. Whether voting should be made compulsory in all local self government bodies ? Let people decide.

At a personal level, yes. The voting should be made compulsory and more so to make foundatrions of our democracy more meaningful and stronger with a sense of proportion for future generations.

Best wishes

Mohan Pujar