Yasmeen Aftab Ali
India has shown maturity towards implementing a system democratic in spirit with the Supreme Court’s epic judgment in September 2013, allowed casting of “negative votes”, noting that the provision of rejecting all candidates for a seat can be rejected by the electorate, noting that this option can be provided in existing electronic voting machines (EVMs) without any “additional cost” or change in the technology. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam passed the judgment, noting the submission of the Election Commission (EC) that no additional cost, effort or change in design or technology of EVMs is required to include the option of “None Of The Above (NOTA)” in the EVMs. 
“In the existing electoral system, a dissatisfied voter does not turn up for voting and this provides an opportunity for unscrupulous elements to impersonate him/her. But if the option of ‘none of the above’ candidates is provided, even reluctant voters could turn up at the booth and press the NOTA button in the electronic voting machine,” says J. Venkatesan in his article.(The Hindu September 28, 2013)
He adds, “The court said the NOTA button sought for by the petitioners was similar to the ‘ABSTAIN’ button provided for in the voting machines in Parliament, the other two being ‘AYES’ and NOES. For, by pressing the NOTA button, the voter would in effect say he was abstaining from voting since he did not find any of the candidates worthy of his vote.”
On the other hand, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced that an empty box will be now on the ballot paper-stating: ‘None of the above’ thereby rejecting all contesting candidates in a constituency pre-election 2013. The news had taken political and media circles by storm. Most within these circles opposed it, whereas the common educated man had hailed the decision. The Headmistress of a leading school wrote to me thus, “Brilliant idea..gives the voter greater autonomy…. much needed autonomy actually.” The excitement to include the slot proved to be short-lived. It was withdrawn. 
Advantages and disadvantages of this must be carefully evaluated before lauding or rejecting the idea. Those who oppose have declared it as a step against democracy. Is it really? If the voter is allowed the chance of rejecting all-it offers him a broader base than to choose between the Devil and the Black Sea. In a number of cases, one hears people refraining from voting particularly in the urban areas because they do not want to vote for the same electable who have bought in change for the better. Urban areas are marked by low resident interaction, an absence of the ‘baithak’ (general commuting place for residents) culture. This is not only true of upscale areas but also lower-middle income neighborhoods.
However, biradari(clan)system holds sway still in voter decision, particularly in the rural area. They also fill the gap that is left by ideological absence of political parties. In this scenario the right of voters to reject any and every candidate offers an interesting option. An interesting question poses itself with the option. Let us assume 32% of total voters turn out for voting in a given constituency and more than 50% vote for ‘None of the above.’ This leaves 15% of votes behind to be then distributed between 4 or so candidates. Let us again assume that the candidate with the most votes manages to garner 7% votes- others bagging less. The question that comes to mind is: is the candidate with 7% of total votes cast in his favor legally and morally the winner of the contest?
What should the ECP do in this case?
If NOTA merely mean to state the number of people not willing to vote any contesting candidate in power on the ballot paper, they might as well not turn up to cast the votes. What weightage do the votes cast for NOTA signify if at all?
Logical follow-up to this scenario should be to call for a by-election with fresh candidates in the above given scenario. This will make contestants more answerable to the people they represent. This will make them more answerable in terms of broken promises to people they represent. It will also make them more answerable to the people in cases where rampant corruption committed, if any. In the final analysis let the people decide whom to vote for. That is the essence of democracy. This should ideally also mean they cannot be appointed as advisors and chairpersons of organizations by the government. 
According to the July 14, 2008 edition of the “Times of India,” the caretaker Bangladeshi regime five years ago had also proposed that an election to a constituency should be cancelled if “no votes” somehow amounted to 50 per cent or more of the total votes cast—consequently leading to a by-election (The News 26th Feb 2013).
This decision by ECP had come at a time when according to a survey of the British Council titled Next Generation Goes to The Ballot Box, showed that only one in five young adults expect their economic situation to improve over the next year.An overwhelming 96 percent of those surveyed said the country was heading in the wrong direction and almost a third said they would prefer military rule to democracy.Just 29 percent chose democracy as the best system for Pakistan, with 40 percent favoring sharia, saying it was the best for giving rights and freedom and promoting tolerance. We must nurture democracy with fresh water not just be lip service and implement it in its truest spirit. 
Pakistan was not the first country to have introduced NOTA. Various countries and territories like Bangladesh, the American state of Nevada, Greece and Columbia etc have incorporated the ‘No Vote” or “None of the above” option on their ballot papers. Canada and Spain etc do not specifically have this provision on their ballot papers, but they do allow their citizens the right to decline to vote or to leave the ballot papers blank in dissent.Former Soviet Union had this provision in 1991 and after its break-up; Russia had kept on giving this privilege to its voters till 2006.
Why so much hue and cries on a step that is in the very spirit of democracy and all that is democratic?
The writer is a lawyer, academic and political analyst. She has authored a book, ‘A Comparative Analysis of Media and Media Laws in Pakistan.’ Her Twitter handle is: @yasmeen_9
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