Plea to make voting mandatory!!

Hyderabad: The very low percentage of voting in the State Assembly election on Sunday has become a topic of discussion in the social media in the city after polling figures released by ECI.

Some of the netizens expressed shock over the reports that only about 50 per cent of voters have exercised their franchise in the capital city.

Some of them expressed the view that voting should be made compulsory, and the benefits provided by the Government should be restricted to only those who cast their vote.

Government employees, who participate in the voting, should alone be considered for promotions and so on and people who vote alone should be given bank loan and other facilities.

It is shocking that though the Government had declared a holiday for all, many people opted to stay at home and enjoy otherwise, instead of spending just an hour as the polling stations are near to them.

Electoral Reforms

Apart from this, there is a feeling among some sections that drastic electoral reforms are needed in the country.

Firstly, measures should be evolved to prevent large number of non-serious independent candidates entering the field.

Also, the ceiling on expenditure by the candidates and political parties should be drastically cut, as the present system allows only the rich to enter the fray.

The number of days for campaigning also should be reduced to about seven days for Assembly polls and 12 days for Parliament election.

This is necessary as the normal life of the people and the functioning of the Government machinery is disrupted during the entire election process from the day of notification till the end of counting of votes.

The Election Commission should be given more powers to enforce certain rules and regulations to deal with people, who show disrespect towards democratic process like voting.

The EC should also be empowered to cancel the registration of political parties which resort to distribution of money and other graffiti to voters.

It is also felt necessary to prohibit the exodus of outsiders to campaigning in a State. The Prime Minister, Union ministers, chief ministers, ministers, other leaders from outside the State coming for campaigning involves huge public money.

Some of the political parties may not favour these reforms, and hence the people’s organisations and non-government bodies should launch a movement to ensure that the reforms are made part of the statute book, to protect democracy, it is felt.