Sir — Veteran BJP leader lK Advani is right when he calls for compulsory voting. The fundamental concept of parliamentary democracy is rule by the majority. Our democracy runs by a multiple-party system and no constituency is contested by less than five candidates. The candidate securing the highest number of votes gets elected.
Did he or she in fact secure more than 50 per cent of votes in that constituencyIJ It is not generally so, since we have the first-past-the-post system. And with a low turnout, the poll becomes no more than a farce.It is time that urgent electoral reforms are initiated for the system of democracy to be meaningful and progressive. One of them is that the ‘right to vote’ should be made mandatory so that it becomes difficult for tainted politicians to capture votes.