Pics: Spoorthi Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network—Mangaluru (MD)

Mangaluru, Jan 26: The Election Commission of India, Mangaluru City Corporation, and Mangaluru University College celebrated ‘National Voters Day-2015’ on Sunday January 25 at Ravindra Kala Bhavan Hall, University College, Mangaluru.

Addressing the gathering, former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi said, “Online voting is not possible in the country due to internet security reasons and the voters. With hackers on the prowl, allowing online voting is not a good idea. He was responding to a question at an interactive session on National Voters Day here in the city.

Quraishi, who initiated National Voters’ Day in 2011, said, “Internet security is one of the major issues threatening online voting. Similarly, the issue of security to the voter who votes from individual premises is also a problem. While a voter exercises franchise under security in a polling booth, the same would not be available at their premises.”

Besides, he also said that it was not possible to restrain a person with business interests from entering the legislature. “Commission might consider a ban on corporate funding of political parties”, he added.

Quraishi said compulsory voting is also not possible in India as democracy and force cannot go hand in hand. He gave an example of Australia where compulsory voting showed that about 90 per cent of the electorate exercised its franchise.

“But the government had incurred substantial expenditure in collecting fines from those who did not vote. In India, persuasive measures are yielding results with many states recording voting beyond 80 per cent and Tripura recording 93 per cent,” he said.

Deputy commissioner A B Ibrahim, Zilla Panchayat CEO Thulasi Maddineni, superintendent of police D S Sharanappa, and Mangaluru City Corporation commissioner Hepsiba Rani Korlaputi were also present.