RIGHT TO REJECT - REALLY?

“Voters get the right to reject.”

“Supreme Court gives voters the right to reject all candidates.”

“Now, ‘None of the above button’.”

These are some of the headlines that we have come across recently. So let’s try and break up what this is all about.

The first thing that we need to know is the jist of the Supreme court verdict. As per media reports, the apex court of the country has asked the Election Commission to provide None Of The Above(NOTA) button on EVMs(Electronic Voting Machines) and ballot papers.

Is this something new?

No and Yes.

No, because under the existing provisions of Section 49(O) of the Representation of People Act, a voter who after coming to a polling booth does not want to cast his vote, has to inform the presiding officer of his intention not to vote and sign on an entry. But this violated the fundamental principle of secrecy of the ballot. Also, making such a move could lead to trouble for the voter from overenthusiastic party workers.

Yes, because this verdict takes care of the above problems as the voter gets a NOTA button. No one else needs to know about the voter’s choice.

So, have we REALLY got the RIGHT TO REJECT?

Here, I would like to paraphrase what a former Chief Election Commissioner said on television. He said, if all the voters in a constituency press the NOTA button, but only one person votes for a candidate, then that candidate will be declared the winner. So this cannot be called the right to reject.

If no, then what is the benefit of the verdict?

The apex court puts it succinctly in its observation, “When a large number of votes will press NOTA button, it will force political parties to choose better candidates. Negative voting would lead to systemic change in polls.”