Voters have right to reject : SC
Source: The Sangai Express / Press Trust of India

New Delhi, September 27 2013 : The apex court has directed the Election Commission (EC) to provide a 'None Of The Above' (NOTA) option at the end of the list of candidates in electronic voting machines (EVMs) and ballot papers to allow voters to show they do not approve.

The right to reject would ensure wide participation as people who are not satisfied with any candidate in the fray would also turn up to express their opinion and reject them all, said a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam.

It said the concept of negative voting would bring a systemic change in the election process as political parties would be forced to project clean candidates in polls.

Secrecy of votes cast under the NOTA category must be maintained by the EC, the court said.

However, the bench did not say what will happen if the votes cast under the NOTA option outnumber the votes received by candidates.

The court passed the order on a PIL filed by an NGO, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), which had submitted that voters be given the right to negative voting.

Agreeing with the NGO's plea, the bench passed the path-breaking verdict and introduced the concept of negative voting in the election process, saying that it would further empower the voters in exercising their franchise.

"The SC has said the right to vote and the right not to vote have to stand on the same pedestal," said Sanjay Parekh, the petitioner's lawyer.

"This ruling is a warning to political parties to not field tainted ministers in elections.

It sends a message to political parties only to pick candidates with a clean report" .

The bench noted that the concept of negative voting is prevalent in 13 countries, and even in India, parliamentarians are given an option to press the button for abstaining while voting takes place in the House.

The court said the right to reject candidates in elections is part of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression given by the Constitution to Indian citizens.

It said democracy is all about choice and significance of right of citizens to cast negative voting is massive.

The latest verdict is part of series of judgments passed by the apex court on the election process.

Earlier, the apex court had restrained people in custody from contesting elections.

The apex court has also ruled that MPs and MLAs would stand disqualified after being convicted of serious crimes.

The government has brought an ordinance seeking to negate the court's judgment striking down a provision in the electoral law that protected convicted lawmakers from immediate disqualification.

A two-judge bench of the apex court had felt that the issue on negative voting needed to be adjudicated by a larger bench as there were certain doubts over the interpretation of the ruling passed by a Constitution Bench in the Kuldip Nayar Vs Union of India case relating to a voter's right.

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 of not voting, who in turn would make an entry in the relevant rule book after taking the signature of the said elector.

According to the PUCL, Section 49(O) violated the constitutional provisions guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) (Freedom of Speech and Expression) and Article 21 (Right to Liberty) and violated the concept of secret ballot.

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