Electors are at their liberty to vote or not to vote as per their own will in the presidential election, the Election Commission said replying to the Opposition NDA?s contentions that no political party should be allowed direct their MPs or MLAs to abstain from voting.
The Commission has also clarified that the voting for presidential election is not ?compulsory,? and will attract no legal proceedings if the voters abstained ?on their own.?
The Commission said no political parties can issue a direction or whip their members to vote or hold back their vote in a particular manner, leaving them (the voters) with no choice. ?It would tantamount to an offence of undue influence within the meaning of section 171C of the IPC,? it said.
NDA had approached the Election Commission on Monday for a clarification after the UNPA announced their decision to abstain from voting, giving a blow to the saffron outfit?s expectations.
The Opposition alliance was expecting the UNPA to vote for its candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. The BJP had also asked the Commission to initiate legal proceedings against those parties who demands ?compulsory abstention? by their members in the electoral college for presidential election. The EC clarification will now allow the UNPA members to vote in the presidential elections, even if their alliance has decided to abstain from voting. It has also clarified, citing a Supreme Court order, that the voting at the presidential election is different from voting by an MP or MLA inside the House and the provisions of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution may not apply to the voting at the presidential election.