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Is 18 old enough to vote but too young to contest polls? Election Commission thinks so

In parliamentary panel meeting, EC says age of voting & contesting polls can’t be same. Cites SC rejecting several petitions on reducing age for contesting elections to 18.

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New Delhi: Is 18 too young to contest elections? The Election Commission of India (ECI) certainly thinks so. 

On Monday, the ECI reiterated before a parliamentary panel that there can’t be parity in the voting age and the age for contesting elections, ThePrint has learnt.

While the voting age is 18 years in India, a person has to be at least 25 years old to contest the Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

The ECI gave its views to the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, which had called the election commission officials to hear their views on “specific aspects of the election process and their reforms”. 

A Member of Parliament present in Monday’s meeting told ThePrint that deputy election commissioners Dharmendra Sharma and Nitesh Kumar Vyas told the parliamentary panel that the issue of parity of voting age and age of contesting elections was also debated in the Constituent Assembly. 

Sharma and Vyas were representing the ECI at the meeting. 

“ECI members told the panel that our lawmakers decided to keep the age of contesting election at 25 years as it was felt that at that age a person has the maturity to understand the intricacies of politics and law-making,” the MP told ThePrint. 

The officials also quoted several petitions that have come up before the Supreme Court to reduce the age for contesting elections to 18 but these petitions were rejected, the source added. 

While India brought the 61st Amendment of the Constitution in 1988 lowering the voting age of elections to the Lok Sabha and to the legislative assemblies from 21 years to 18 years, the debate to lower the age of candidates for general and assembly elections has been going on for a few years.

Globally, countries such as France, the UK, Germany, and Australia, allow candidates as young as 18 to contest elections. In countries such as Israel, the minimum age for contesting elections is 21 years.  


Also Read: Electoral bonds put over Rs 1,200 cr into parties’ kitties this poll season, govt data reveals


Remote voting for migrant workers

The parliamentary panel also took up the issue of remote voting for migrant workers who are unable to return to their home constituencies in time to vote. 

Briefing the parliamentary panel, the ECI members said that approximately 30 crore voters skip voting.

“They are mainly the migrant workers, who because of the nature of their work are unable to vote. The ECI representatives told the panel that they have developed a prototype of a Remote Voting Machine (RVM), similar to the Electronic Voting machine to enable remote voting,” a member of the parliamentary panel said.

The member added that the ECI officials told the parliamentary panel that remote voting could be challenging and that several legal and administrative issues will need to be addressed before it can become a reality.

“The ECI members said that on 16 January, they would make a presentation before representatives of all political parties and also demonstrate the prototype of RVM,” the member said.

Members of the parliamentary panel also batted for stringent punishment against candidates who file false affidavits but added that the punishment should not be for flimsy charges.

“While members were of the view that the current punishment of six months for filing false affidavits is not enough, the ECI members said they are studying the matter. They also cited several Supreme Court orders, which have in the past differed on the matter,” the member quoted earlier said.

The ECI also briefed the parliamentary panel on the status of linking Aadhaar cards with voter identity cards. The commission said linking the two was currently “optional”. “The ECI officers said that so far 58 crore Aadhaar number of voters have been linked to voter IDs,” a parliamentary source quoted earlier said.

The ECI launched a special drive last August to collect the Aadhaar number of electors in all states and Union Territories. The drive will end in March.

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)


Also Read: India’s election campaign financing needs reforms. Electoral bonds not the answer


 

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