The CPI(M) on Wednesday asked the Election Commission to scrap the MoUs signed by Gujarat Election Commissioner with industrial units to monitor electoral participation of the workforce and publish names of those workers who would not vote.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said this is outrageous and outright unconstitutional. CITU general secretary Tapan Sen said that EC must stop this MoU with corporates which are meant to defame those not participating in voting.
“We strongly feel that this is nothing short of being outrageous. The EC has claimed that it is an attempt to address voter apathy, but the fact is that the move to name and shame those who do not vote is a coercive step towards compulsory voting. The report actually quotes Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer-“We have signed 233 MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) that will help us enforce the guidelines of the Election Commission. For the first time in Gujarat, we will be monitoring the electoral participation of the workforce belonging to 1,017 industrial units.”
“The current move by the EC of involving corporates in enforcing the right to vote as a fundamental duty is outright unconstitutional. Apart from this it further involves the corporates in the conduct of the elections in an already controversial background of anonymous corporate funding through Electoral Bonds,” said Yechury.
CITU general secretary Tapan Sen said ,“It is amply clear that such MoU is not just meant for addressing voter apathy; the decision to identify, name and shame those not casting their votes (among the workers) tantamount to coercion and victimization.”