“Democracy is about choice. This choice can be better expressed by giving the voters an opportunity to verbalise themselves unreservedly and by imposing least restrictions on their ability to make such a choice.” The Supreme Court was emphatic that the no vote option “gives the voter the right to express his disapproval with the kind of candidates that are being put up by the political parties.” Going further, the judges declared that the “provision of negative voting would be in the interests of promoting democracy.” This seemingly innocuous judgment to add a button to the EVM may sound very plebian but the skilfully worded order has put a seal of approval on the distinction made between the right to vote, which it confirmed was a statutory right, and the act of exercising that right by the casting of a vote which it confirmed as a constitutional right as enshrined in Article 19(1)(a), the right to freedom of speech and expression. It then a added a constitutional lustre to ‘negative voting’ by declaring “not allowing a person to cast vote negatively defeats the very freedom of expression and the right ensured in Article 21, i.e., the right to liberty.”
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 08:22:55 +0000
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