After Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s bid to introduce compulsory voting in local bodies’ polls in the state stirred a national debate, Congress MP J P Agarwal on Friday made a spirited argument in favour of compulsory voting. Agarwal had moved the private member’s Bill — the Compulsory Voting Bill, 2009 — last November and it was taken up for discussion in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Arguing that “dwindling turnout” in elections made our democracy “weaker”, the Congress MP, representing North-East Delhi, said compulsory voting would put “all citizens on an equal footing”. Agarwal had, however, a problem with the Gujarat government move. He said the BJP government had not undertaken wide-ranging consultations before introducing the move.

Reeling off statistics, Agarwal said Belgium introduced compulsory voting way back in 1892, followed by Australia and other countries. Agarwal said similar provisions existed in as many as 32 countries, while it was being strictly enforced in 19 countries. The Election Commission has, in past few weeks, maintained that the idea of compulsory voting and its enforcement would be “impractical” in a country as large as India, but Agarwal cited recommendations from a number of reports, including some observations of the Election Commission in the past, to argue his case.

When presiding officer M Thambidurai wanted Agarwal to wind up after he had taken more than an hour-and-a-half, Union Law and Justice Minister M Veerappa Moily stood up and by way of appreciating Agarwal’s research effort, said: “I may get convinced (by his argument).”