Mr.
Chairman, Sir, I thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak on the
Compulsory Voting Bill. I extend my support to this Private Member’s Bill and I
would like to second the same. I find that people living in the remotest parts
of the country, in distant hamlets and villages, do not cast their votes in big
numbers. When they are forced to walk considerably long distances, they do not
prefer to do that and fail to cast their vote. It is not easy to traverse 5 kilometres
or even longer in the hilly terrains. My constituency has got so many hillside
villages and remote villages. There are more than 200 small villages and
hamlets situated on the hilltops in my constituency. A polling booth has to be
set up even in a place that has got only140
250 voters. Police personnel and officials on election duty must be sent to
every booth to ensure that all the160
people cast their votes during the election. We can succeed in establishing a
sense of participation in the minds of our people only when they take part in
the electoral process which is like a festival of democracy. We must instil
confidence in the minds of the people and bring about a spirit of oneness and
togetherness, and thereby create hope in their hearts towards democracy. Some
of our youth today go astray as misguided youth and go away from the path of
democracy and embrace extreme organizations like Naxal and Maoist movements. I
am very particular about hilly areas because this modern-day menace in the form
of Naxalism and Maoism is more patronized in the hilly regions of our280 country. This venom is spreading fast.
Such students and youth must be brought to the mainstream in the path of
democracy. We must give them hope for democracy and we must encourage them to
participate in our electoral process by320
casting their votes without fail. I think my honourable friend has thought
about it and brought forth this Bill as a good move. In elections, we find that
many of our Government officials are not casting their votes. We must ensure
that all the employees of the Central Government and State Governments exercise
their franchise during the elections. If they do not cast their votes, then
certain disincentives must be there. There must be cut in the ration,
there must be cut in increment and curtailment in promotion. Many police
officials do not vote, many staff in the rural areas420 fail to vote. Hence, it must be
made the primary duty on the part of the Government employees to vote
compulsorily. We must have an effectively monitoring system as that will have
its salutary effect on the remaining part of the population. Wherever we have reserved
constituencies, we must encourage Independent candidates to contest. This is my
personal view. Even480 after
60 years of Independence, there are considerable number of villages that
have not seen metal roads. When a person from the majority community
contests, most often the Government extends all the basic facilities to that
constituency. It was the visionary step of our leader late Rajiv Gandhi to have
brought down the voting age to 18. This is to ensure that youth and students
are encouraged to uphold democracy and begin to cast their vote when they are
still560 young. He won them the
right to vote in their teens. We must preserve the spirit of democracy by way
of encouraging more of Independents to contest in reserved constituencies.
Rotating the constituencies ensures the spread of true democratic spirit. It
should not be like a candidate from a majority community alone shall stand
a chance to win an election from a constituency full of such community people
in the electorate. Even the minorities should be able to contest and640 win the votes of the majority. This will
augur well for the democracy. I hail from a minority community and I
represent a constituency that has got the electorate from the majority
community living in majority. Democratic spirit helps us to rise above the
caste and community. My neighbouring Lok Sabha Constituency is not
dominated by the minority community like700
that of mine. People belonging to major religion live in majority there. But
still, the people of my constituency living there perform their
democratic duty rising above caste and communal lines. I would like to thank
the electorate of my constituency who have elected me though I hail from a
minority community. It only vouchsafes their spirit of oneness, togetherness
and democracy, participating in the election which is like a democratic
festival. No nation was raised on caste lines. No nation can remain united just
because same community of people live there. There could not have been
two Pakistans, two800 Germanys
and two Vietnams if race and religion are to decide the unity of a country. But
it is only the democratic spirit that can keep a country united. The
spirit of democracy inculcated in us by Mahatma Gandhi and840 later on by Shrimati Indira Gandhi and Shri
Rajiv Gandhi and now by Shrimati Sonia Gandhi help us to rise above
caste and community and uphold the democracy with a spirit of oneness and
brotherhood. People living in the remotest part of the country like
hilly areas must be given enough of care and attention. Such people living in
forest areas are vacated without prior notice. They must be given
priority in our governance. They are deprived of their voting rights to elect
their democratic representatives. We must create a conducive atmosphere. We
must facilitate them to cast their votes wherever they live.
My
esteemed colleague has moved this Bill with a visionary approach to ensure that
all the people960 participate
in the election by making use of their democratic rights. Only when the confidence
level of people increases,980 they
will have more faith and confidence in democracy and nationality. It is
only people coming from the Congress background who can think of such a move to
include all the people in the ambit of democracy. The hon. Member wants to have
one booth for every 500 metres. But I feel it is enough to have one booth per
kilometre because in my constituency, I find only 5 booths for a vast
stretch of 32 kilometres. In the hill areas of my constituency, there are only
60 booths. People have to walk more than five kilometres to cast their votes. That
is why they fall prey to certain electoral malpractices. This must be
checked. In order to avoid money changing hands during such time, we
must ensure that more booths are set up to cover almost the entire population
thereby1120 involving all our
people in the democratic exercise. This Bill has been brought with a spirit of
nationalism by a Congress Member. Our Congress Party accords greater importance
and prominence to youth. Our young Lieutenant Shri Rahul Gandhi extols the
youth to come forward to participate in the process of democracy. More and more
participating in the elections and casting their votes without fail in the
hustings will strengthen our spirit of togetherness and unity. Hence, I, once
again, congratulate my esteemed colleague who has brought this Compulsory
Voting Bill in this august House.
Mr.
Chairman, Sir, the kind of debate which has gone on this Private Member’s Bill
has really sanctified the very concept of the Private Member’s Bill. I must
compliment and commend the kind of debate which has taken place on this Bill. I
have noted down1260 the points
from all the speakers who spoke. I must say that it is most
illuminating, enlightening and forward-looking. I1280 am very much educated by this. I
think it is an ideal situation to have compulsory voting; there is no
doubt about it. We need to graduate our country, our electorate. All of us
should ultimately graduate ourselves into that kind of a domain where every citizen
of this country should exercise his vote. That is why, the kind of
support which this Bill obtained from all the Members, by all sections of the
people, by everyone starting from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, reflected that our
democracy is still vibrating and people have the passion to nurture the great
democracy of this country. The elections are the first national festival of
democracy. Everyone will have to tribute that kind of sanctity. 1400 After all, any democracy will come out
successfully if we nurture it; and we have nurtured it. We are proud that today
our Parliamentary democracy is the largest and the best in the world. We are a
part of1440 it, with all the
deficits which have been spoken out by many honourable Members. In our
country, we have conflicts. The Constitution of India is a conflict
resolution document. We have differences of opinion. Our country is also called
‘argumentative India’. There are contradictions everywhere. From territory
to territory, from man to man, we have contradictions. People say
that our body is full of water. But, if there is any infliction of
injury to the body, blood comes out. Our heart is full of blood but if any
injury is caused to the heart, tears come out. This is a contradiction. We live
in this contradiction and we thrive in this contradiction. That is why we have
a beautiful scenario of India with ‘unity in diversity’. 1470
