Explain any five points of criticism raised against the Universal Adult Franchise.

 

Adult Franchise means that the right to vote should be given to all adult citizens without distinction of caste, religion, class or sex.There should be no qualification of property or education also. Only lunatics, minors, bankrupts, criminals and aliens are deprived of the right to vote and all others are given this right without any distinction. The age of adulthood differs from country-to-country. For instance it is 21 years in America, 18 in Russia, India and England; 23 in Norway. The voters cast their votes by secret ballot system.
The five points of criticism is raised against the Universal Adult Franchise are the following:
Points of criticism against the Universal Adult Franchise:
1. It is not proper to give the right to vote to ignorants: The right to vote is not a natural or an inherent right, which everybody can enjoy. In fact, it is a sort of special privilege, which is conferred only on those persons who are best fitted to utilize it for the welfare of the state. Some people are of the opinion that the right to vote should be given only to the educated people. The educated persons can make the proper use of their right. An uneducated person cannot understand who is the best candidate out of all.

2. Ordinary man is the slave of instincts: The masses are ignorant and illiterate. They do not even possess the capacity of understanding to elect the best candidates and to judge the worth of governmental policy. Therefore, to entrust the right of voting to ignorant masses is to welcome dangerous consequences. The system of Universal Adult Franchise establishes a government of the fools, because, the fools and the ignorants are in majority in the society.
3. Adult Franchise encourages corruption: The common persons of the country are the poor citizens. And the persons who contest the elections are mostly the rich persons. As a result, the candidates, who mostly belong to the rich classes, attract the poor people towards themselves by purchasing their votes. The poor people, who have the right to vote, sell their votes. In this way system of adult franchise fails and encourages corruption.
4. All citizens are not equal: It is also wrong that all the people are not equal. Nature has not created anybody equal, some are wise from their very birth and others are fool. All thepeople cannot be given similar type of work because all are not equally competent. Therefore, all the people cannot be given the right to vote and to contest elections on equal footing.
5. Franchise is not a right, but a responsibility: Many scholars consider that the right to vote is not a right, but it is a responsibility. This right can be extended only to those persons who are really capable to use it properly. If it is extended to an incompetent person, it proves very useless. Therefore, the right to vote should be extended only to the capable and educated persons.