Question

What was the voting system in India before Independence? What ideas did Gandhiji express in the journal Young India about voting system?

Answer 1

In India before Independence, only a small minority enjoyed the voting right. This was shocking for Gandhiji. He firmly disapproved of this system and advocated for the universal adult franchise which gives all adults the right to vote.

Expressing his ideas in the journal Young India in 1931 Gandhiji said that it is discriminatory to deprive poor and illiterate people of voting rights. Snatching the right to vote from a person simply because he is poor or illiterate is in no way justified. A poor or illiterate is also a citizen of the country and he has every right to enjoy all privileges existing in the country. Thus. Gandhiji was very much fair and favored the system that would provide equal voting rights to all.