Mangaluru, Jan 25: Former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said that the two major problems that the Election Commission faced during elections in India were money power and voter apathy.
Addressing a gathering on the occasion of National Voter’s Day at a programme here on Sunday, he said that the Expenditure Control and Monitoring Division of the Election Commission had not been able to stop the use of money while campaigning for elections to influence voters. Money power still remains a problem. Meanwhile, due to voter apathy and indifference, the legitimacy of a democracy gets affected, he said.
Mr Quraishi, who started the National Voter’s Day in 2011, said that around eight lakh programmes were being held simultaneously on the occasion, with the intention of creating more impact among youngsters. In the last four years, over five crore new voters were added covering about 70 per cent of the young electorate, he said, adding that stress should be given to voter education and enrolling more youth.
Online voting
During the interactive session, he said that internet voting was not feasible in the country as voting in individual booths online was not secure.
He said that internet security is one of the major issues threatening online voting. At the same time, the issue of security to the voter who votes from individual premises is also the issue. While a voter exercises franchise under security in a polling booth, the same would not be available at individual premises, he said.
Likewise, he said that he would not advise compulsory voting in India, as it did not go well with democracy. Instead, persuasive methods should be used to encourage voters, he said.
Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim, Zilla Panchayat CEO Tulasi Maddineni, Superintendent of Police S D Sharanappa, Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner Hepsiba Rani Korlaputi and others were present.
Comments
Add new comment