{"id":55224,"date":"2020-02-27T17:03:01","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T11:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?page_id=55224"},"modified":"2020-02-27T17:03:15","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T11:33:15","slug":"answered-none-of-the-above-nota-system-although-enables-voters-right-not-to-vote-but-is-toothless-in-spirit-comment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-none-of-the-above-nota-system-although-enables-voters-right-not-to-vote-but-is-toothless-in-spirit-comment\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] None of the above (NOTA) system although enables voters \u2018right not to vote\u2019 but is toothless in spirit. Comment."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n Demand of the question<\/strong>\n Introduction.\n <\/strong>Contextual introduction.\n Body.\n <\/strong>Discuss the significance of NOTA option. Explain\n why NOTA is a toothless option.\n Conclusion.\n <\/strong>Way forward.\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NOTA or \u2018none of the above\u2019 is the option\nwhich enables the voter in elections to officially register a vote of rejection\nfor all candidates who are contesting. The main objective of the \u2018NOTA\u2019 option\nis to enable electors who do not wish to vote for any of the candidates to\nexercise their right to reject without violation of the secrecy of their\ndecision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nSignificance of NOTA option: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Disapproval: <\/strong>NOTA gives people dissatisfied with contesting candidates\nan opportunity to express their disapproval. For instance, a group of women\nactivists in Kerala out on the road urging people not to elect any candidate if\nno woman was present in the fray, and a youth group in Tamil Nadu that\ncampaigned for NOTA as a protest vote against corruption.<\/li>
  2. Participation in voting: <\/strong>NOTA motivates citizens to participate in\nelections. Observations have been made that NOTA can influence more citizens to\nparticipate in voting.<\/li>
  3. Prevent bogus votes: <\/strong>With increased chances of more people turning up\nto cast their votes, even if they do not support any candidate, it decreases\nthe count of bogus votes.<\/li>
  4. Enable right to reject: <\/strong>This enables voters to exercise their right not to choose a candidate\nand register a vote of rejection. <\/li>
  5. Right to secrecy: <\/strong>Earlier, since the ballot paper or EVM showed only the list\nof candidates, a voter could record his vote under Section 49-O (None of the\nabove) but had to inform the presiding officer at the election booth. This\ncompromised the secrecy of his ballot. NOTA removed this provision and enabled\nmaintenance of citizen\u2019s right to secrecy.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n


    \nNOTA- a toothless option:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. No electoral value: <\/strong>The vote does not hold any electoral value and is merely symbolic in nature. Even if a\nmajority of votes were cast for NOTA, the candidate with the largest vote share\nwould still be the winner.<\/li>
    2. Not a right to reject: <\/strong>It has been argued that NOTA is not ‘the right\nto reject’ the candidates standing in the election, but instead the ‘right to register a negative\nopinion’.<\/li>
    3. Lack of awareness:<\/strong> NOTA has not reached the grassroots level and most people\nare unaware about the option on the EVM machine or what it entail.<\/li>
    4. Caste bias: <\/strong>It has been observed that some of the highest NOTA votes\npolled are consistently seen in reserved constituencies. This could be\ninterpreted as a refusal of general category voters to vote for an SC\/ST\ncandidate- a scenario where NOTA is being misused to uphold caste-based bias.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Way\nforward: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Re-elections: <\/strong>If NOTA receives the highest number of votes, re-election\nshould be held in that constituency with a new and fresh candidate. In 2018, the Maharashtra State\nElection Commission (SEC) issued an order that\n\u2018if NOTA received the highest number of valid votes, a fresh election shall be\nheld\u2019.<\/li>
      2. Barring candidates: <\/strong>The candidates securing votes less than NOTA would be\nbarred from contesting in that re-election. In November 2018, the SEC of\nHaryana issued an order where NOTA is treated like a \u2018fictional candidate\u2019 in\nmunicipal polls. If NOTA gets maximum vote, none of the \u2018real\u2019 candidates will\nbe declared elected and the elections will be held afresh. The candidates\nsecuring votes less than NOTA would be barred from contesting in that\nre-election.<\/li>
      3. Cost on candidates: <\/strong>Political parties that lose to NOTA should bear the cost of\nre-election. When conducting re-elections, the NOTA button may be disabled to\navoid a series of re-elections.<\/li>
      4. Short time ban: <\/strong>The candidates who lose to NOTA should not be allowed to\ncontest elections for a defined period of time.<\/li>
      5. Awareness: <\/strong>While NOTA is definitely providing a voice to dissent, it\nneeds to be accompanied with efforts to raise voter awareness to prevent the\nmisuse of this measure.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        The Supreme Court has anticipated, there\nwill be a systemic change with NOTA and the political parties will be forced to\nfield candidates who are known for their integrity. Efforts must be made\nto ‘strengthen’ the impact of NOTA by providing it the power to reject and\nasking for re-elections if NOTA wins the majority. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Demand of the question Introduction. Contextual introduction. Body. Discuss the significance of NOTA option. Explain why NOTA is a toothless option. Conclusion. Way forward. NOTA or \u2018none of the above\u2019 is the option which enables the voter in elections to officially register a vote of rejection for all candidates who are contesting. The main objective… Continue reading [Answered] None of the above (NOTA) system although enables voters \u2018right not to vote\u2019 but is toothless in spirit. Comment.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-55224","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}