valuable vote

Do you know your VOTE value?

Are you aware of Section 49(o) of the Peoples' Representation Act under the Constitution of INDIA?

This section is  the real weapon in the hands of  every INDIAN citizen, if he wishes to express his choice of NOT voting any of the contestents in a Polling Booth, if he thinks that the contestants are NOT competant.

This  right is available to every electorate under our constitution, as per  the amended 1969 Act, under section49(o), that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his fingerprint  marked and convey to the presiding Election Officer that he doesn’t want to VOTE anyone in the voting screen!

YES such a feature is available, but obviously these provisions have never been disclosed to the electrate. 

A) Under section 49(o) if the electorate  deciding not to vote, can have  his electrol roll number duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and have his signature or thumb impression put  thereon as required under sud-rule (1) of rule 49L, in the event of deciding not to VOTE,  a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the electorate  shall be obtained against such remark.

B) Why should you go to the polling booth and say " I VOTE NONE?” In a given constituency if a candidate wins, say by 123 VOTES and that particular constituency has received Negative votes under section 49(o) which are  more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and re-poll has to be ordered.Not only that - but also that the candidature of the previous contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling once again, since electorate  had already expressed their decision on them.

C)  This would instill  fear in the minds of the  political parties and they  would  look for genuine candidates for their parties for the election. This would bring the necessary  changes in our political system. Further, if this section 49(o)  is made public and gets Media Coverage, this will act as a deterant to all political parties from wrong choice of candidates.

D) Thus, expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than VOTING… So don’t miss your chance!

Courtesy:

Ghansham Ojha,

F&P IYSO Team INDIA,