Lower minimum age to contest elections from 25 to 18: Shrikant Shinde

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Shinde on Tuesday made a strong demand for lowering the minimum age to contest Lok Sabha and Assembly elections from 25 to 18 years and allow remote voting for migrant voters.

Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Lok Sabha, Shinde also said the Election Commission should introduce a common electoral roll for all elections and usher in simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.

"If a person is eligible to cast his vote after attaining 18 years of age, he should also be eligible to contest the elections," Shinde said.

According to the present law, the minimum age for becoming a candidate for Lok Sabha or Assembly elections is 25 years.

Shinde, the three-term Lok Sabha member from Kalyan, also hit out at his political rivals in Maharashtra for raising the issue of candidates winning the recent local body elections unopposed.

"What do you expect to happen if the leaders of the (Shiv Sena) UBT do not stand by their workers contesting the panchayat elections? The UBT leaders ensured the party's victory in the Lok Sabha elections but did not bother to stand by their workers," Shinde said.

He also said that this was the precise reason why the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Congress-Shiv Sena(UBT)-NCP(SP) lost the 2024 Maharashtra elections.

Participating in the debate, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule said the Election Commission appeared to be part of the government, instead of being an independent authority.

"This is not healthy for any democracy in the world. It's shameful," Sule said.

The NCP (SP) leader also alleged large-scale irregularities in the conduct of local body elections in Maharashtra, which, she claimed, witnessed the seizure of huge amounts of cash from a BJP leader's home following a tip-off from the leader of alliance partner Shiv Sena.

She said at more than 20 local bodies, relatives of ministers and leaders of the ruling alliance won the elections uncontested.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, CPI(M) member Amra Ram wondered why was there a need for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, which were updated every year.

The SIR will lead to deletion of names of migrant labourers who do not have access to the internet and work away from home, Ram said.

The Left leader also demanded a return to ballot papers, saying even the BJP had made a similar demand before it won the Lok Sabha elections.

RJD member Abhay Kumar Sinha also demanded holding elections using ballot papers, and scrapping the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Sinha dared the BJP to hold the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal using ballot papers.

LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Arun Bharti claimed that election malpractice began in the 1960s during Congress rule with the loot of ballot papers and ballot boxes.

He said under the Congress governments, the Model Code of Conduct turned into "Model Code for Corruption".

Bharti said the Congress lost 94 elections since the introduction of EVMs because its leaders preferred to work from home, instead of working at the grasroots level. PTI SKU ARI