RIGHT TO CAST NEGATIVE VOTE, WILL THIS IMPROVE DEMOCRACY

• Right to Cast Negative Vote, Will This Improve Democracy (Only for Online Coaching Members and Premium Members)

India’s top court ruled that voters should be given the right to cast negative votes against candidates in future elections. The Supreme Court ordered the Election Commission to provide the option in electronic voting machines and paper ballots. The ruling came after a petition was filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, a rights group. N. Gopalasami, a former chief election commissioner, said the court’s decision would force political parties to select clean candidates. Negative votes will not impact election results because they won’t be counted, but they will be made public, Gopalasami said. The Supreme Court has been trying to clean up Indian politics. It ruled in July that convicted lawmakers must be removed from office.

The apex court directed the Election Commission to provide ‘none of the above options’ at the end of the list of candidates in electronic voting machines (EVMs) and ballot papers to allow voters to reject those contesting polls. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said that negative voting would foster purity and vibrancy of elections and ensure wide participation as people who are not satisfied with the candidates in the fray would also turn up to express their opinion rejecting contestants. It said that the concept of negative voting would bring a systemic change in the election process as the political parties will be forced to project clean candidates in polls. 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 right to reject candidates in elections is part of fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression given by the Constitution to Indian citizens. It said that democracy is all about choice and significance of right of citizens to cast negative voting is massive.

With the concept of negative voting, the voters who are dissatisfied with the candidates in the fray would turn up in large number to express their opinion which would put unscrupulous elements and impersonators out of the polls, it said.  The bench, while reading out the operative portion of the judgement, did not throw light on a situation in case the votes cast under no option head outnumber the votes got by the candidates. It said that secrecy of votes cast under the no option category must be maintained by the Election Commission. 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 latest verdict is part of series of judgements passed by the apex court on the election process.

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