 bill no lvii of 2006 the  compulsory voting  bill,  2006 a billto provide for the compulsory voting in an election by each and every citizen of the country and for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the fifty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the compulsory voting  act, 2006short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india2  every citizen, who is eligible to cast his vote in any election, shall exercise his right to vote compulsorily when called for by the election commission:compulsory voting by every eligible citizenprovided that a citizen may be exempted from compulsory voting only if—(a) he is physically incapacitated from an illness of a serious nature and produces a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner testifying such incapacity; or(b) the election commission or any such other officer empowered by it, satisfies himself after receiving request from the citizen before or after the election that the reasons for such an exemption are bonafide and genuine3 after every election the election commission shall send the lists of names of all those eligible voters, who have not cast their votes, to the central government and each state governmentelection commission to send the list of voters who have not cast their vote4 the election commission shall ensure that,—establishment of polling booths etc (i) the polling booths in adequate numbers, at convenient places are established in each lok sabha/vidhan sabha constituency at the time of election(ii) the polling booths are established in such a manner that the number of electorate in each polling booth remains equal and distance between two polling booths is not more than half a kilometer:provided that the polling booths in hilly and desert areas shall be established according to the geographical convenience and density of population(iii) safety and security to all the voters coming to cast their votes is provided at the polling booths(iv) appropriate arrangements are made for enabling persons deputed for polling duty to cast their votes(v) separate arrangements are made in each polling booth for exercising of their franchise by the senior citizens, physically incapacitated persons and pregnant womenpunishment5 any eligible citizen, who fails to cast his vote in any election—(i) shall be liable to a fine of rupees five hundred; or(ii) shall be punishable with imprisonment for two days; or (iii) shall be punishable with forfeiture of his ration card; or (iv) shall be debarred from contesting any election for a period of ten years fromthe date of his conviction; or(v) shall  be debarred from allotment of any plot or house in a central/stategovernment owned organisation; or(vi) shall be debarred from taking loan of any kind in all the central/stategovernment owned financial institutions; or(vii) shall be debarred from entitlement to any welfare scheme announced by thecentral/state governments from time to timeprovided that if such a person is an employee of the central or the state government or any public sector undertaking owned by central/state government, he shall be punished with—(a) forfeiture of ten days salary: and (b) delay in promotion for a period of two yearsreward6  any citizen who in spite of his illness or physical incapacity has cast his vote at an election or any citizen who has cast his vote at all elections held during a period of fifteen years preceding the commencement of this act without any break shall be—(a) given preference in services under the central government (b) given preference in admission to his children in the institutions of higher educationapplication of other laws not barred7 the provision of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any law for the time being in force regulating any of the matters dealt with in this act except to the extent the provisions of other laws are inconsistent with the provisions of this actpower to make rules 8 the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act statement of objects and reasonsour country is the largest democratic country in the world and its population has already crossed the one billion mark but only about 35 to 45 per cent of voters of the country exercise their franchise in any election often, it has been observed during elections that the number of actual voters casting their votes is far less than the eligible voters and the average number of votes polled is also very lessit is evident from the general elections held for lok sabha and vidhan sabha in the last few years that voting was less than 35 per cent in many states and in number of cases people had boycotted elections and thus did not vote deliberatelyall the citizens should exercise their right to elect their representatives, so that the elections reflect the will of the whole electorate and not merely a part of itwith a view to increasing the voting percentage, the bill proposes to make it compulsory for every eligible voter to vote and provide for exemption only in cases where the voter is physically incapacitated due to illness of serious nature or the voter has a genuine reason for not casting his votesince the provision is being made compulsory, punishment is also sought to be given to those who do not vote in elections however, reward is also proposed to be given to those persons who vote at elections in spite of their illness or vote without any breakhence this billjai  parkash  aggarwal financial  memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides that polling booths in adequate numbers shall be established in each constituency it also provides for special arrangements for the persons deputed for public duty, incapacitated persons and women besides safety and security of citizens coming to cast their votethe bill, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of indiait is likely to involve a recurring expenditure of about rupees eight crore per annuma non-recurring expenditure of about rupees fourteen crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 8 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purpose of the bill and the rules relate to matters of details only the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character———— a billto provide for the compulsory voting in an election by each and every citizen of the country and for matters connected thereto and incidental thereto————(shri jai parkash aggarwal, mp)mgipmrnd—1788rs(s-5)—28-07-2006