Not just another button on the EVM : NOTA option :: Empowering the voters
- Sangai Express Editorial :: October 02, 2013 -

None of the Above or NOTA.

This should not be seen as just another button added on the Electronic Voting Machine to discard all the candidates in fray, but should be seen within the ambit of the growing need to go in for some radical changes in the process of electing the people’s representatives.

Electoral reforms, that is. With the Supreme Court already ruling that a Member of Parliament or a Member of Legislative Assembly should be immediately disqualified if he or she is convicted by a Court of Law, the fresh directive from the Supreme Court to the Election Commission of India to add the NOTA button does not seem like an idea plucked from thin air.

The right to vote and the right not to vote should stand on the same pedestal is the principle that can be seen in the directive of the Supreme Court to the ECI.

It should also serve as a reminder to all political parties that they owe it to the electorate or the voters to offer them the best options available.

Empowering the voters, nothing less and this is what would make democracy more vibrant and healthy and not just a term that is to be bandied about.

The need for electoral reforms has long been felt and The Sangai Express had on more than one occasion put across this point, especially in the run up to the last Assembly election in 2012.

It was in line with this thought process that The Sangai Express published an article twice, something unheard of and not practised in the world of journalism.

But it was done under the conviction that the said article, written by an elderly gentleman, merited the attention of the people.

The said article was also referred to in the editorial column of this paper on more than one occasion, again under the conviction that something needs to be done to neutralise the ills that accompany the election process in the country, more so in a place like Manipur, where money and muscle power rule the roost.

Rightfully the Supreme Court has not said anything on what should be done in case the votes cast under the NOTA option outnumber the votes received by the candidates.

That is for the Election Commission of India to decide and work out the modalities. But some suggestions may be made and options may be offered for the ECI to explore.

In case the NOTA votes outnumber the votes received by the candidates, then fresh election may be held with the rider that all the candidates who were in the fray be barred from contesting in the next election.

Or maybe not bar all the candidates but some of the candidates who could not receive a certain percentage of the total votes cast.

With the country set to go in for Parliamentary election sometime in 2014, it is only right that some thoughts, serious ones at that, are given to electoral reforms.

Are the processes under which elections are held in sync with the tag of the largest democracy in the world ?

The very fact that the Supreme Court has deemed it fit to rule that any elected members of Parliament or State Assemblies should be disqualified if convicted by a Court, the directive issued to the ECI to include the NOTA button, are all indications that something needs to be done to make elections more clean and more fair.

The NOTA directive may not be without its pitfalls, for holding elections is not a joke, especially in the largest democracy in the world, with a population of over one one billion people.

But this cannot continue to be the reason to keep up with all the flaws that one sees in the electoral system. The Supreme Court has had its say.

Political parties have responded with caution to the ruling of the Supreme Court. It is left to be seen how the ECI respond to the situation and deal with the matter at hand.