Ahmedabad, April 18: The Narendra Modi government in Gujarat, appearing unperturbed about governor Kamla Beniwal returning for reconsideration the bill making voting compulsory, declared on Sunday that it would again place it before the state Assembly.

“ It is the governor’s privilege to return a bill. As far as the government is concerned, we will again place the bill before the Assembly and pass it,” said government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas. When asked if the government would modify the bill in the light of the governor’s objections, Mr Vyas said: “This being a matter of privilege of the Gujarat Assembly, I would not like to make any comment. To pass it with any kind of modification or without is the privilege of the Assembly. But we will definitely go back to the Assembly and try for passage of the bill.”
State urban development minister Nitin Patel said: “We will stick to the present form of the bill for now. We will decide what to do when the time comes.”
The governor had returned the bill saying it was violative of the Constitution. He had also objected to the clause that called for punishment for those choosing not to vote.

Deepal Trivedi