Madhya Pradesh High Court rejects PIL demanding mandatory voting

Jabalpur, 9 May (HS). Madhya Pradesh High Court has rejected the PIL demanding to make voting mandatory. The court has said in its order that voting is a matter of freedom of the citizens. The petitioner has committed the mistake of approaching the High Court in haste without waiting for the reply to his representation.

In fact, Dr. Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, Professor of Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University, Jabalpur, had filed a PIL in the High Court demanding that voting be made mandatory. On Thursday, the petition was heard in the double bench of the High Court, in which advocates Ajay Raizada, Anjana Srivastava and Abhimanyu Singh presented their side on behalf of the petitioner. He argued that every citizen, who is above 18 years of age, is entitled to vote. Voting should be made mandatory in national, state level, district level and local elections.

It was argued that employees working in central, state, district and local bodies are given paid leave on the day of voting. This means that you get salary without any work on that day. Despite this, if they do not participate in the voting process, then punitive action should be taken on the basis of the employer granting paid leave. Voting has been made mandatory in many countries of the world, so why not in India. The question arises that when salaries worth crores of rupees are given without any work on the day of voting, then why arrangements cannot be made to make voting mandatory. Election Commission of India, New Delhi, Chief Electoral Officer, Bhopal and District Election Officer, Jabalpur have been made parties in the Public Interest Litigation.

The double bench of Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Vishal Mishra rejected the petition after hearing the petitioner's side. Yagalpeeth made it clear in its order that whether to vote or not is a matter of freedom of the citizens. Apart from this, the PIL has committed the mistake of hastily approaching the High Court without waiting for the response to its representation. Therefore, the PIL is dismissed as being premature. However, the PIL can raise its demand through representation.