CHAWLA 2 LAST

Later, Chawla said the Election Commission believed
in promoting voter education, adding, "Our thrust is on voter
education, voter awareness, bringing in the youth from the
campuses. That is our direction," he said.
Chawla noted that the country had a large section of
unorganised labour and in case of a sick child one cannot
expect a mother to go and vote rather than attend to her
offspring.
"Now, I leave you with one thought that -- see we have
such large unorganised labour. A child is sick. Is the mother
to come to vote or face punitive measures if she does not," he
said.
"Are we going to be collecting medical certificates? We
have at the moment about 60 per cent of our population casting
their vote," Chawla said.
He, however, refused to comment on the Gujarat
legislature passing a law making voting compulsory in local
body elections.
Chawla said the State Election Commission was an
independent Constitutional authority and one must respect that
position. PTI