Währung: None Of The Above (NOTA)

None of the above (NOTA) is a concept where none of the representatives are acceptable to the voter and hence, he/she would press the button of NOTA. In 2009, the Election Commission of India has asked the Supreme Court to offer this option on electoral ballots, but the political parties opposed the idea and delayed it till 2013. In September 2013, the SC ruled that every voter should have the right to register a NOTA vote and this option has been given in the electronic voting machine (EVM).

Does it affect election results?

Current, NOTA feature allows voter to reject all the candidates and retain her secrecy. It is note-worthy, that NOTA will be treated as negative vote and will not have any impact on results. We can understand this definition by a simple example, suppose in an election only 2 candidates named A and B are fighting and there are 100 people who will decide their future. So on the EVM, there will be 3 options (A, B and NOTA). If 51 people cast their vote to NOTA and remaining 49 votes to either A or B, result will be calculated from 49 votes which are casted to either A or B. The NOTA votes are highest but it doesn’t give the right to reject option or any have any significance to the result of the election.

Section 49(O), NOTA and Difference between NOTA and Section 49(O)

Before the NOTA option came in existence, people casting negative votes were required to enter their names in a register and cast their vote on a separate paper ballot. Under section 49(O) of the conduct of the Elections Rules 1961, a voter could enter his electrical serial number in Form 17A and cast a negative vote. The presiding officer would then put a remark in the form and get it signed by the voter. This provision was, however deemed unconstitutional by SC as it did not protect the identity of voter.

In Section 49(O), poll officers have a chance to find out the reason behind the rejection of a candidate through the voter’s remarks in Form 17A. Through NOTA, the officials cannot find out the reason for the rejection. Moreover, it also protects the identity of a voter, thus keeping the concept of secret balloting intact.

In the Gujarat Rajya Sabha Election, Supreme Court said NOTA can’t be used in indirect elections and it should be used in closed ballot voting while in open election like in Rajya Sabha where the voter has to show his/her vote to Election Agent so this is not an issue of Secrecy. NOTA is not for open voting.

Positive Features of NOTA:

Right to Express: NOTA option gives the voter the right to express his disapproval with the kind of candidates that is being put up by political parties. When lot of people vote for NOTA, Political parties will be forced to accept the will of the people and bring out the candidates who are known for their work and integrity.

Right to secrecy is an integral part of a free and fair election, it is a right of the elector to cast his vote without any fear of reprisal or coercion.

Negative Features of NOTA: Symbolic but toothless

Currently, NOTA do not mean rejection. A Voter can vote NOTA but it has no impact on the result of the election. NOTA can work when it is paired with Right to Recall option where voters can recall candidates they have elected. This will instill fear in candidates to do well in office.

What does data tells us?

Data analyzed by FACTLY² from Sep-2013 till May-2018 shows vote share of NOTA has remained significantly lower as it crossed 3% mark only one election – Chhattisgarh 2013 out of 22 elections

Vote share of NOTA remained below 2% and even lower 1% in 14 elections out of 22 elections.

Above chart depicts percentage of constituencies where votes for NOTA were more than margin of victory. In 2018, 18 constituencies had more NOTA votes than margin of victory. So if, Had NOTA voter voted in favor second candidate the result may be changed.

As per Paper published in EPW³, there has not been strong correlation b/w increase in voting percentage and criminal association of candidates. Another finding suggests higher usage of % of NOTA votes in rural and illiterate regions. It is against popular construct that NOTA will be more used by educated Indian to show their dissent.

General Election 2014

In 2014, General elections more than 6 million, nearly 1% of valid votes, Indian voter choose NOTA option.

As above chart depicts⁴, nearly 90% of constituencies have less 2% NOTA votes. Only Meghalaya and Puducherry have more than 2% NOTA votes, when analyzed state wise. This data suggest that NOTA usage was relatively limited to start impacting results. But, as discussed earlier, in close election fights, it can really be result changing factor.

Conclusion

Often, people don’t vote because they feel none of the candidate standing in the election is good so they don’t want to waste their vote by giving to them. Since NOTA have been introduced, now India can make voting compulsory so that people can go out and vote as per their choices. In India where average percentage of voting is only 65-70%, compulsory voting can increase this number and make democracy more strong.

NOTA is good option but now it’s a time to make it more meaningful. NOTA can act as a right to reject if it gets highest votes or more than 50% votes to NOTA can be a reason of fresh election in constituency. it will force the election parties to bring better option in front of public. Apart from this, candidate and parties spend money from their pocket for the campaigning, rejection for their candidates will make impart on their pocket and on reputation of the parties.

Given multi-party election in India, the winning margins could be paper thin. In circumstance of less 2% winning margins, NOTA votes can become the major factor. Finally, hardcore party-line voters, who rarely shift to opposition camp, will have great choice of showing dissent and not voting to opposition party. It is note-worthy, that Mr. Narendra Modi led NDA government has been trying to share 2019 election as ‘Modi Vs Who’ and forcing voter to think that there no other choice then to vote for Modi. NOTA may well be the answer.

Reference:

Währung

Tuesday 11 September 2018

None Of The Above (NOTA)

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