 bill no 266 of  2016 the compulsory voting bill, 2014 by shri sukhbir singh jaunapuria, mp a billto provide for compulsory voting by the electorate in the country and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh  year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the compulsory voting act, 2016(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title; extent and commencement5(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appointcompulsory voting2  it shall be compulsory for every voter who is eligible to vote at an election to exercise his right to vote when called for by the election commission:provided that a voter may be exempted from exercising his right to vote—10(a) if he is physically incapacitated from an illness of a serious nature andproduces a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner certifying such incapacity; or15(b) if the election commission or such other authority as may be empowered bythe election commission, on receipt of a request either before or after the poll, from the voter, is satisfied that there are genuine and bona fide grounds for such exemption3 the election commission shall ensure protection and safety of all citizens who come to polling booths to cast their votesprotection and safety for voters at polling booths4 the election commission shall send a list of names of all eligible voters, who have not cast their votes, to central government or the state government, as the case may besending of list of names of voters not casting their votes to the government55 (1) there shall be set up adequate number of polling booths at convenient locations, in every constituency of the house of the people or legislative assembly, as the case may beadequate number and spacing ofpollingbooths(2) the polling booths shall be set up in such a way—(i) that number of voters in each booth shall be equal to the extent possible;10(ii) that the distance between one polling booth and another shall not exceed five hundred meters: provided that in hilly regions and desert areas polling booths may be set up according to geographical convenience and density of population156 there shall be made suitable arrangements enabling the persons deployed in connection with the polling duty to cast their votesspecial arrangements for poll staff7 there shall be made separate arrangement in every polling booth for senior citizens, physically challenged persons and pregnant women to enable them to cast their votesspecial arrangements for senior citizens, etcpunishment8 any person, who fails to cast his vote shall be liable to—(i) a fine of rupees  five hundred, or20(ii) two day's imprisonment, or (iii) forfeiture of his ration card; (iv) be rendered ineligible for contesting any election for a period of ten yearsfrom the date of his conviction;(v) be ineligible for allotment of a plot or a house in a government ownedorganisation;25(vi) be ineligible to get loan of any kind from any financial institution owned bythe government;(vii) be ineligible for entitlement to any welfare scheme announced by the government from time to time:30provided that if such person is an employee of the union government or the state government or the union territory administration or any public sector undertaking owned or controlled by union government or the state government or the union territory administration, such person shall also be punished with—(a) forfeiture of ten days 'salary; and(b) delay in promotion for a period of two years35incentive for voting9 any person who, despite his illness or physical incapacity has exercised his rights to vote at an election or any person who has exercised his right to vote at all elections held during a period of fifteen years preceding the commencement of this act without any break shall be—(i) given preference in jobs in the services under the central government; and5(ii) given preference in admission to the institutions of higher educationpower to make rules10 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act1015(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made,before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsour country is the largest democracy in the world having population of more than a billion but it has been seen that only about thirty-five to forty per cent of  the eligible voters exercise their right to vote during almost all the elections in the country,  it has been observed that the number of actual voters is far below the number of eligible voters therefore, the average voting is very low this type of electoral trend makes it clear to us that suitable steps are necessary to encourage the citizens to exercise their right to vote in order to elect their representative so that the results of the election show the will of all the electors and not just a segment of themin the last few elections, the problem of low voting percentage has become worse and the voting percentage has gone down even below thirty-five per cent in many cases, citizens either deliberately avoid casting their votes or even boycot elections therefore, the bill seeks to make voting compulsory for all the electors subject to certain restrictions so that the voting percentage in the country is increased however, the citizens who are either physically incapacitated or have bona fide reasons have been given exemption under the actsince voting is being made compulsory, punishment is also sought to be given to those who do not cast their votes at the same time, incentives are also proposed for those who do exercise their right to vote without break or in spite of illnesshence this billsukhbir singh jaunapuria financial  memorandumclause 5 provides for setting up of adequate polling booths in every constituencyclauses 6 and 7 provide for special arrangements for persons deployed for poll duty and for special arrangements for senior citizens, physically challenged persons and pregnant women to enable them to cast their votes the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that an annual recurring expenditure of about rupees eight crore is likely to be involveda non-recurring expenditure of about rupees fourteen crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 10 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of this bill which will relate to matters of detail only the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character———— a billto provide for compulsory voting by the electorate in the country and for matters connected therewith————(shri sukhbir singh jaunapuria, mp)gmgipmrnd—2992ls(s3)—17-11-2016