n the history of our nation, the Lok Sabha polls 2014 will be the first with a ‘none of the above’ (NOTA) option in the voting machines. These elections will be India’s longest (34 days) and largest (81.4 crore voters) till date. It will be held in nine rounds between 7 April 2014 and 12 May 2014; with the results to be declared on May 16. For the first time in Lok Sabha elections, voters will be able to exercise the NOTA option instead of a candidate or party. It was first made available in the November – December 2013 Assembly elections in five states. “Appropriate instructions will be issued regarding the NOTA option,” said the Chief Election Commissioner, V S Sampath. The EC will also introduce Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) on an experimental basis to make sure that the elections are fair. What does NOTA exactly mean? The NOTA button in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will give you the ‘right to reject’ all candidates or parties listed. Each and every vote does make a difference and can have a great impact on the final result. So all the readers out there must understand the significance of the NOTA button and exercise their right to vote. According to the former Chief Election Commissioner, S Y Quraishi, the Supreme Court in its order has just given “the right to register a negative opinion.” He made clear that the new stipulation does not mean that all candidates in a constituency are rejected or defeated if the number of NOTA votes exceeds the number earned by the candidate with the highest votes. “Even if there are 99 NOTA votes out of a total of 100, and candidate X gets just one vote, X is the winner, having obtained the only valid vote. The rest will be treated as invalid or ‘no votes’,” Quraishi said. He then made it clear that NOTA may not affect election results, the option would “ensure secrecy of the voter wanting to make a choice that amounts to abstention, and also to ensure that nobody casts a bogus vote in his place.” The only use of NOTA will be that it will put pressure on the political parties to nominate deserving candidates only. “The effective use of NOTA”, Quraishi said, “is to give secrecy to the voter who does not want to vote for any of the candidates in his constituency.” But the BIG question is that why does a voter refrain from voting? Lets look at some of the reasons. One of the major reasons could be that the voter does not consider any of the candidates worthy of his vote. So he abstains from voting. Will NOTA have any kind of impact on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections? Will it effect the RESULTS or not? Well it is quite difficult to arrive at a conclusion. There are many implications involved. One of the implications is that as long as the number of NOTA votes do not have an impact on the final outcome, it may not have a significant effect on the final results. At the same time, this is at least the first step towards recognising people’s right to opt for none-of-the-above rather than vote for a candidate randomly. Secondly, this option is sure to ensure a higher percentage of voter participation, in the cities at least. As responsible citizens would prefer to come out and vote, than let a vote go waste. Hence, helping avoid bogus voting or a low voter turnout. Thirdly, now the politicians will be in a grip, as the public may desert a candidate who has not performed well during his last tenure. As long as the right of rejection lies with the voter, it sends a message to the politicians that they do not rule the roost and if no candidate is worth the dime, let them all be shown the doors. What do you think? Would this make any difference in the outcome of the results? Well I guess YES.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 13:46:00 +0000
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