The Gujarat High Court has stayed the state’s implementation of compulsory voting in local polls after a lawyer moved a PIL challenging the constitutional validity of the same. The High Court observed that the ‘right to vote’ itself provided right to refrain from voting. The High Court Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Jayant Patel and Justice J.B. Pardiwala admitted the petition and stayed implementation of the mandatory voting local polls. Recently, CM Anandiben Patel decided to implement the mandatory voting bill, which was passed in the Assembly in 2014.

Gujarat was the first State to make voting compulsory in local polls after Governor O.P. Kohli sanctioned the last November the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2009, which was turned back by his predecessor Kamla Beniwal for reconsideration.

The right to vote cannot be termed as the duty by the state and therefore the provision of compulsory voting Act is violative of fundamental rights given to any citizen under the Indian Constitution. Originally, the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2010 had come out with an idea to make the voting mandatory in the local bodies’ elections.

The local body polls in 253 municipalities, 208 taluka panchayats, 26 district panchayats and six municipal corporations are expected to be held in October this year.