The Tribune Tuesday, January 5, 2010
by Jagdeep S. Chhokar
The Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2009, passed recently by the state Assembly making it “compulsory” to vote in elections to municipal corporations has justifiably invited a lot of comment.
On the face of it, making voting compulsory sounds like a good idea as it requires citizens to perform what is arguably their most important duty. That is possibly why it has been getting approval ratings of 80-90 per cent in various TV polls. However, as the saying goes, “the devil is in the details”. And the details in the case of this Act are delightfully vague. For example, the Act says, “It shall be the duty of a qualified voter of the municipal corporation/municipality/ panchayats to vote at the election of the municipal
corporation/municipality/ panchayats; however he will be free to cast his vote in favour of none of the candidates contesting elections as indicated in Sub-Section (2).” One, therefore, expects Sub-Section (2) to throw light on how one casts one’s vote “in favour of none of the candidates”. Let’s see what Sub-Section (2) says.For more information please click here
