Enforcing compulsory voting not easy task: Chawla

Chief Election Commissioner Navin B Chawla suggested that making voting compulsory across the country is not easy.

Chief Election Commissioner Navin B Chawla on Monday suggested that making voting compulsory across the country is not easy.

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"If you were in my place, how would you enforce it (compulsory voting) if in 2009 general elections, 250 million or 300 million people could not come out to vote? Now, you answer me," Chawla shot back at a programme in New Delhi when a person during the question-answer hour insisted him to comment on the Gujarat government making voting compulsory in local body elections in state.

"Even I will take your feeling to the full commission," Chawla told the inquirer in a lighter vein.

Speaking at a question-answer session after delivering the Mother Teresa Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, Chawla said there were 750 million voters in the country and another 30 million would be added in January 2010.

Later, when asked for his comment on the issue on the sidelines of the programme, Chawla told PTI, "This is the domain of Parliament. This is not in the domain of Election Commission at this point in time."

Underlining that Gujarat's legislature has made the voting compulsory in local body elections, Chawla said, "I think we have to wait to see whether Parliament legislates (the same)."