Just when the nation is gearing up for the elections, the Supreme Court gave a significant judgment, holding that there is a dire need of negative voting in the country and hence, the ‘None of the above’ (NOTA) button should be provided in the Electronic Voting Machines as it will force the political parties to nominate a sound candidate. The Court was of the opinion that the provision of negative voting would be in the interest of promoting democracy as it would send clear signals to political parties and their candidates as to what the electorate thinks about them. Giving a sense of empowerment to voters by way of introducing NOTA, the 3-judge bench of Hon’ble P. Sathasivam, CJ, Hon’ble Ranjana Prakash Desai and Ranjan Gogoi, JJ held Rules 41(2) & (3) and 49-O of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 to be ultra vires Section 128 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 and Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution as they violated the secrecy of voting. The said provisions recognised the right of a voter not to vote but the secrecy of the same was not being maintained as it provided for a remark being made against the entry under Form 17-A by the Presiding Officer along with the signature of thumb impression of the voter. [People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. UOI, WP (Civil) No. 161 of 2004, decided on September 27, 2013]
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 08:30:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015