Compulsory Voting

After 2 days of holidays , Thursday 30th for the voting day here in Mumbai -- Thane and Friday 1st May being Maharashtra Day , the banks reopened . Anticipating a rush after these 2 days off and also being Saturday -- half day for banking , I went before opening time so that I could finish the work early .

As I was waiting in the queue , I was looking at the left middle fingers of people around me for the ink mark of voting , to get an idea of the much talked about lack of enthusiasm in voting . Most of them had marks and so was quite pleased . At this time I was pondering over the remarks made by Mr. Advaniji of making voting compulsory . I then took an interest in the banking staff to see the marks , and spotted a few who had skipped voting and made the most of the vacation. Were they on election duty ? and if not then what was the purpose of giving a holiday for voting .

If a holiday is given for voting then it is mandatory to vote . All the staff should be inspected for the ink mark and if not found they should be made to loose that day's wages and also fine another day's pay as penalty . This way the percentage of voting will increase .

Most of the private enterprises give a half day holiday to the staff --- for voting -- but I doubt if they really care about casting their vote.

The self employed have to undergo lot of hardship if the banks and other offices are closed and so if a holiday is given for voting then all those should be made accountable , if they have not voted

So as a first step compulsory checking for voting should be for those who get a holiday for that purpose , especially like the dates this year , which was a long weekend for most -- exams being over , the kids were ever willing for an outing with their indiferrent parents who give least importance to elections --- 30th a Thursday , !st May a Friday and then Saturday and Sunday .