Bengaluru: Lawmakers for compulsory voting, from the Australian

Bengaluru: B.PAC (Bengaluru Political Action Committee) organised a governance dialogue on ‘Roles, Responsibilities and Decision-making process in a decentralised set up’, in the city on Thursday. Politicians from Australia and the state attended the event.

The conversation started with the issue of compulsory voting. All the panelists agreed that it would work to India’s advantage. Dr Sally Talbot MLC (WA State Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Climate Change & Delegation Leader) spoke about the fact that voting in Australia was compulsory and they had attendance at polling booths. “Of course people have the freedom to do what they wanted and a lot of them would scribble unnecessary things on their ballot paper,” she added.

She pointed out that Australia still used pencil and ballot paper because they did not want to see a situation like what happened in the United States.

Ms. Kate Worden MLA (Member for Sanderson, Northern Territory) said, “What India and Australia had in common is that both the democracies are very complicated.”

As for voter apathy, JD (S) spokesperson Tanveer Ahamed said, “It is important to have an active participation of people who should know why it is important to vote.”

Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Gowda touched upon the issue of low turnout in the recent J&K by-election and said, “It showed that the people rejected the governance in the state.” He added that the political parties must strive to take politics to the smallest town and village in the state.

“We a ll would be fighting for some cause. In today’s world, we are going through a polarised environment. The entire discussion is happening to prove the other person as enemy. The GST was opposed by the current ruling party when they were in opposition. The case is same with Aadhaar. This is not the right way to stick to ideologies”. MLA N.A. Haris of Shanthi Nagar constituency said that he was in favour of compulsory voting to raise turnout. Commenting on the compulsory voting system in Australia, he said it can be a promising idea if the people who vote are given benefits for voting.

With regard to devolution of power, Dr Ashwathnarayan, MLA opined, “In local bodies there is more devolution of responsibilities and not power. There is always a question and doubts on the ability of the Council to manage the system. To go for transparency and accountability, there is a need to devolve more power to the local bodies.”

Regarding women’s participation in politicis, Dr Talbot said, “The world of Australian politics can be stressful and difficult. As women enter politics the proceedings in Parliament is considered to be gentler. But this is a myth. Women are more resilient and articulate.”