In a vibrant democracy such as India, the right to vote is not just a privilege but also a fundamental duty enshrined in the Constitution. Several countries around the world such as Australia (where voting is mandatory), South Africa, South Korea, France provide a holiday on election day to facilitate voter participation.
Recent discussions have brought to light an intriguing debate surrounding the obligation of employers, particularly Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), to declare a holiday on election day. While some argue for the sanctity of this practice, citing constitutional principles, others question its necessity and potential infringement on individual liberties. Interestingly, several member-countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (made up largely of advanced democracies) conduct their national elections on a weekend. Other democratic nations such as the United States do not mandate election day as a paid holiday. Some States in the U.S. make election day as a paid holiday, while some do not. However, a study published by Princeton University, about ‘Increasing Voter Turnout’ said, “The results are clear. There is no evidence from the ‘natural experiment’ of states providing an election holiday for state employees that such holidays significantly increase voter turnout”, concluding that “having an election holiday, by itself, is not an effective strategy to increase voter turnout.”
