NOTA, IT DON’T REALLY MATTER

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  Tuesday, 08 October 2013 18:40
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A cry of jubilation arose from urban India the day NOTA or the ‘none of the above’ option was added to the voting machine by the Election Commission …The talk in the college canteen and the water cooler corner alike, yippie finally WE HAVE THE POWER, time to cast our vote and reject those rotten *#@%%* politicians that we so hate… But have we really got the right to reject the dirty dozen (in most cases its more than that) at the polling booth  this time round …Answer to that, not really.

The NOTA button that electronic voting machines EVM’s will have from now does not give you the ‘the right to reject’ all candidates. The Supreme Court in its order has just given you the voter the right to register a vote that rejects all the candidates standing for election.That means even if the number of NOTA votes cast exceeds the number of votes bagged by the highest vote getting candidate, he wins, here’s how

Hypothetically speaking, there are 2 candidates A and B standing for election in a particular constituency which has 100 voters. There are 80 NOTA votes cast in the election. Of the remaining votes A gets 15 votes and B garners only 5 votes, A will be declared winner in the election. At present, under the Representation of the People Act, the returning officer is duty-bound to declare the candidate who secures the maximum num­­ber of votes as the winner.

This however is a first step in the right direction. Prior to 1988 the voter could submit a blank ballot, this was open to misuse. Then came the EVM the Electronic voting machine . The machine took away the secrecy from the ballot . Pressing  any button  on the machine made a beeping sound, heard through out the booth.  If the voter did not like any of the candidates in the field  and did not press any button no sound would be heard. This violated the voter’s basic right to secrecy. This has prompted the NOTA button.

What needs to be done next by the law , for starters votes cast for the NOTA  button should be cou­nted .In case the NOTA button gets more votes th­an any of the candidat­es, no­­ne of the candidates sho­uld be declared elected and a fresh election held.  Also none of the present candidates should be allo­wed to contest again

That will ensure that NONE OF THE ABOVE really becomes NOTA worthy

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