Mumbai: Stressing the need to reform the electoral system, both Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan today said that perhaps voting should be made compulsory.
The two leaders, speaking at a seminar on electoral reforms here, also agreed that the number of political parties should be 'regulated'.
"Elections should reflect the voice of the common man. However, when less than 50 per cent of the population of over 700 million exercise their right to vote, shouldn't voting be made compulsory?" Moily asked.
Taking the same line, Chief Minister Chavan said, "Whether voting should be made compulsory in our country needs to be seriously considered."
Moily said that though India has emerged as a victorious democracy, there are deficiencies in the electoral system and the time has come to think of 'out of the box' solutions.
The Law Minister said his ministry would see to it that courts hear and decide all the criminal cases, especially corruption cases, within three years.
"Our judiciary takes a lot of time to punish the guilty. This will be changed. All the requisite infrastructure and manpower would be made available to the courts to see to it that cases are decided within three years. Heinous crime cases would be assigned to fast track courts so that they can be decided within a year," Moily said.