The election commission goes by the tag line “No voter to be left behind”. To observe this in letter and spirit it took some steps. In the purview to increase participation in voting EC in 2009 told the Supreme Court to introduce “None of the above” option ballots to mark the attendance of those voters who do not wish to vote any of the candidates. This was deliberately opposed back then. The People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), a non-govt organization filed a PIL statement in support of this. On 27th September 2013, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the right to register a “None Of The Above” vote in an election should apply and ordered the EC to provide such a button in the electronic voting machine.
Writing the judgment, the CJI said: “Giving the right to a voter not to vote for any candidate while protecting his right of secrecy is extremely important in a democracy. Such an option gives the voter the right to express his disapproval of the kind of candidates being put up by the parties. Gradually, there will be a systemic change and the parties will be forced to accept the will of the people and field candidates who are known for their integrity.”
The Bench said the NOTA option “will accelerate effective political participation in the present state of the democratic system and the voters will, in fact, be empowered.” The right to cast a negative vote, “at a time when electioneering is in full swing, will foster the purity of the electoral process and also fulfill one of its objectives, namely, wide participation of people.”
Since these voters cast their vote and participate in democracy, they must be heard. In 2013 election, the margin of victory in 24 Lok Sabha constituencies was less than the NOTA vote cast.
Unlike India, it is quite significant in many countries. The motion to chose none of the competing candidates was first introduced in the state of Nevada in the United States in 1976. In the Soviet Union, the introduction of “none of the above” option was very effective and managed to topple the Communist Party helped the people build a democratic govt. While in Indonesia the NOTA option received over 300,000 votes, 35,000 more than the sole candidate, forcing a repeat election in 2020.
“The Election Commission should frame rules to the effect that if NOTA gets a majority, the election held in the particular constituency shall be declared null and void and fresh election shall be conducted to the constituency. In these circumstances, the Election Commission may also frame rules stating that the candidates who fought in the earlier fray should not be allowed to contest or they should be debarred from contesting for at least some time period, as can be decided by the Election Commission,” the PIL states.
Nota is gaining a fair amount of heed by the voters. To let these vote not go in vain the election commission must come up with some ideas and give their fair share of power. After all, it’s a democratic country and these voices though silent must be heard and taken into account as well. If not then this may fundamentally take away the belief of the people in democracy and might make the environment chaos. In another term, the political front must also address the issue which has fundamentally cause distrust in masses.
