An ardent supporter as I am of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and strong as my faith is that his government can take India to greater heights, I must, in most emphatic terms, record my disagreement with the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill of 2009 that was first introduced and passed in Gujarat assembly during Mr Modi’s tenure as the Chief Minister. Having been returned earlier for reconsideration, this bill has been signed by the Governor last week, and can  now be implemented. It is surprising that there has been very few discussions or debates on a bill that has profound impact on our democracy – especially considering that this may set a precedent for the same principles being applied with a wider scope. It is my considered opinion that this law is contrary to the essence of democracy in general (which I don’t really care about) and the spirit of Indian constitution. But even more importantly, I think its basic premise goes against fundamental logic.

Democracy has many faults, and one of the foremost is that it places decision making in the hands of many including those who are absolutely incapable of it. If now at least some of those who lack competence are staying away from elections, this law will forcefully require them to mark their decision about something they have no idea about or no interest in. If such people are made to vote against their will, they’re likely to vote for the candidate with most populist promises. It is an undemocratic as well as an unwise choice to force people to take important decisions in which they don’t want to have a say. In this respect, this law will serve to magnify one of the drawbacks that democracy already has.

It is also a violation of people’s fundamental freedom. To have a say in governance is my right and privilege, but it is also my right to choose whether to exercise this right or not. Compulsory voting takes away this latter right. Further, to cast one’s vote is not on the list of fundamental duties added to the constitution by the 42nd Amendment in 1976 and expanded since.  If to vote in all elections is to be considered a duty that is constitutionally required of all citizens, it will need to come as a constitutional amendment and no less. A regular bill in a state assembly cannot override what is unambiguously laid down in the Constitution.

Leaving all political and legal considerations apart, a fundamental logical flaw in the premise of this law relates to how a system that cannot trust people with deciding whether to cast their vote or not can trust the same people to cast their vote for the right candidate! If these voters are really capable of making an appropriate decision and their vote is valuable, then their decision to not vote should also be honoured as an informed choice. On the other hand, if they are not good enough to make this simple choice, what good will come of involving them in deciding the nation’s future?

The law also assumes that people’s decision to not vote is due to their laziness or lack of a sense of responsibility. It ignores that the primary reason for people’s disenchantment with the electoral process is the lack of faith they have in politics and politicians. Forcing these people to vote without addressing these concerns is like covering the symptom of a disease without doing anything to treat the underlying condition. A partial solution for this is proposed as an option to vote for none of the candidates, commonly referred to as NOTA – short for None Of The Above. However, there is still no clarity or consensus on what the fate of the election will be if NOTA gathers more votes than any of the candidates. If the election is to be held again, then for how many times can this go on? If the candidate with more votes than all other candidates is declared the winner, then how is NOTA different from an invalid vote or a no vote.  And, why can’t a no vote be taken as an exercise of the NOTA option?  If I don’t care to vote for any of the candidates in an election, wouldn’t I just sit at home rather than spend money in travelling to the election booth and hit the NOTA button? I don’t think it is necessary to crowd our polling booths by making all the NOTA-supporters go there.

There are surely more reasons to not implement this law, but I believe this should suffice to convince the advocates of this law of the need for more debate and deliberation before implementing it.