Governor bats for legislation on compulsory voting

It’s time the government introduced a law making voting compulsory, Governor Vajubhai Vala has said.

“Elections play a vital role, especially in a democracy like ours. It is important that each and every citizen vote for good leaders. Hence, the government should make voting compulsory,” he said after inaugurating the National Voters’ Day programme organised jointly by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the State Election commission.

Expressing dismay at the current voting system, the Governor attributed its flaws to lack of awareness and education among people, who get easily lured by vested interests. “The root cause of this problem is the lack of education among voters. They need to be educated. Some people exercise their franchise without realising the importance of voting,” he noted.

Vala also advised children to stay away from films, saying they do not teach anything meaningful but lead to wastage of time. “By going to cinema, we will not get any valuable information and there are no examples of people having learnt something by watching films,” he averred.  Speaking on the occasion, State Election Commissioner P N Srinivasachari said voters should make efforts to include their names in the electoral roll so that they could taking part in the voting process.

“Voting will not be meaningful and effective just by exercising votes at polling booths. The public has to take part in each phase of voting,” Srinivasachari observed. BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana, Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka Anil Kumar Jha attended.