Should voting be made compulsory?

Should voting be made compulsory?

General Elections are going on and for a change this time India is witnessing a higher voter turnout this year. The change is specially seen in the urbane area where people are educated and use the social media. Call it a trend or call it awareness but the change is good. The voter turnout is better but still it is lacking far behind from the 100% mark. The active participants’ wants voting to made compulsory. Do you agree?

Yes

• The development of country depends upon the kind of government that comes in for ruling. Making voting compulsory will increase the probability of choosing the better governance.

• Compulsory voting is a way which will bring all the different sectors of the society to come together and vote. It will help in reducing the political polarization.

• If voting will be change from an option to a compulsory duty then people will take interest in politics. They will make efforts to choose the right government.

• There are some countries where voting is compulsory. Australia is one of the examples.

• If voting is made compulsory then it will make the process more transparent. It will become difficult for the special interest groups to control the electoral process.

No

• Making voting compulsory is against the rule of democracy where people have the right to take their own decisions.

• Compulsory voting cannot affect the outcome of any election. People will take is as another task and will vote without knowing the candidates.

• Just because voting is made compulsory will not make the people more politically engaged individuals.

• India is a vast country where it won’t be feasible for the government to levy penalties and punish people for not voting.

• In India a higher percentage of people live below poverty line or are uneducated. In a scenario where they find it tough to earn bread and butter, they can’t be forced to vote.

• Quality of votes matter more than the quantity of votes. It is necessary for people to analyze the candidature of elected representatives before they vote for them.

Conclusion

There is no harm even if the voting is made compulsory. When there is no harm from implementing an activity then why it should be ignored. Change is the law of nature and this is the high time to change. It is necessary to make people realize the importance of their one vote.