Ahmedabad: Gujarat government plans to implement compulsory voting during the forthcoming local body polls, spokesperson and state Health Minister Nitin Patel announced on Wednesday, after a meeting with officials of the Gujarat Election Commission.
However, Patel also admitted that it is not an easy task for the administration to implement compulsory voting since the state Election Commission raised various concerns during the meeting.
Briefing reporters about the development, Patel said that the number of electronic voting machines to be used during local body polls would have to be increased significantly to cope with the higher voter turnout.
"The Election Commission shared some of its concerns related to the promposed compulsory voting rule. They told us that if we implement the rule, we have to increase the number of electronic voting machines keeping in mind the higher voter turnout," Patel said.
According to him, voter turnout could rise to almost 90%, while it generally remains at around 70% during local body polls. In addition, each voter would have to be given more time to choose four representatives per ward as against three in the past, he said.
"Keeping in mind high voter turnout of almost 90%, we have to increase the total number of booths to accomodate additional voters. We also have to keep in mind that candidates per ward is now four, and not three. These were some of concerns raised by the EC," Patel said.
When asked if the government would be able to cope with these problems and implement the rule during the forthcoming polls, Patel said that the government would take a final call on the issue soon.
Local body polls to 253 municipalities, 208 taluka panchayats, 26 district panchayats and six municipal corporations are expected to be held by October.
Earlier last year, the Gujarat governor had given his approval to the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2011, which makes voting mandatory in civic polls and has a provision of punishment.
However, after some prominent citizens, law experts as well as Congress leaders protested against the rule, the state government formed a committee and asked citizens to convey their opinions or suggestions to the committee.
Recently, the committee headed by retired IAS officer K C Kapoor, compiled these suggestions and submitted a report to the Gujarat government.
