SSB Lecturette Series: NOTA - Good or Bad

The ‘None of the above’ (NOTA) option was introduced for the first time in 1978, in a ballot by the State of Nevada.

In 2009, the Election Commission of India asked the Supreme Court that to offer the voter a ‘None of the above’ option at the ballot as it would give Voters the right not to choose the candidate who is not appropriate. The Government was not in favor of such an idea at that time.

The NGO named as “The People’s Union for Civil Liberties’” filled a public interest statement to favor NOTA. Finally on 27th September 2013, the Supreme Court of India decided to put the right to register a ‘None of the above’ vote in elections, which then ordered the Election Commission that all voting machines should be provided with a 'NOTA' button so as to give voters the option to choose ‘none of the above’ If the candidate is not deserving.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections 814 million people are eligible to vote for 543 constituencies in 9.3 lakh polling stations and for the first time NOTA' was introduced in the Lok Sabha elections by the Election commission . The main objective of adding the NOTA option was to give clean candidates and to increase the deserving candidate but according to experts , NOTA is not able to fulfill this objective as there is no change in the quality of good candidates when compared to the previous election .

For the past 10 years number of criminals in politics has been increasing. In the recent survey it was found that out of 550 members 162 members had severe crime charges against them  and the MP’s who get elected in 2009 had pending criminals charges against them such as rape, dowry violence, extortion, violence against women etc.

How does the Right to reject work?

After election if the NOTA votes are counted and if the percentage of the NOTA votes is more than the votes secured by any candidate then:

1) Re-polling can be carried out

OR

2) Re-polling can be carried out and the candidates who stood for the first round of voting will be disqualified from taking part in the second round of voting .

But this condition did not happen till now in Indian election.

For example if a total of 500 votes were cast by the voters, Candidate A received 100 votes, Candidate B received 150 votes and NOTA received 250 votes then:

1) Re-polling can be carried out

OR

2) Re-polling can be carried out and the candidates A and B who take part in the first election will not be allowed to contest in the second round of voting.

The “Right to Reject “is based on the concept that in a Democracy if the citizens have the right to select the candidates, then they should also have the right to reject the candidates.

“Right to reject” is a provision that gives the power to the voters to have an option to reject the candidates from the election who doesn't deserve. Using the NOTA the voter can select a button during voting that says “None of the above” (NOTA) and can reject all the candidates from the election if she/he doesn’t found the candidate to be appropriate for the election.

The main motto of the Supreme Court of India to bring NOTA was to force the political parties to project candidates who are having the clean background . The candidates who win the election become part of the legislature and govern the country. It was, therefore, felt mandatory that candidates with criminal or unclean backgrounds are removed from taking part in the elections. If the person use this option of ‘None of the above’ and is implemented with its true intent, the whole political scenario of the country will change comparing to the present scenario.

According to me, the Election commission puts the NOTA on the ballot box, that is not at all, the election Commission Has to make the peoples aware, try to make the peoples understand its usage, because India is a combination of several villages & moreover when we come to villages where peoples are not so much educated & the government has to focus more on the villages & make them understand, instead of giving vote to the bad candidates , press NOTA and support the deserving candidates .

About the author: Sunil Sahu is an electronics and telecommunication engineer and a die heart defense aspirant. He loves cooking and has a vast knowledge about cars and their latest developments. Through this article he wants to help defense aspirants by presenting his critical views on the topic, on the forum so that collective exchange of thoughts can take place.