Negative Voting

The recent legislation by Gujarat government to make voting compulsory at local level elections has elicited a mixed response. There is no doubt that there are weighty reasons against making voting compulsory, and the effective mechanism to supervise makes the task still more difficult. But it is somewhat surprising that almost no attention has been paid to the provision of negative voting or the “none of the above” (NOTA) right given to the voters by the same legislation – this right means that if a person does not approve of any candidate selected by the party cabal, he should not have to choose the least undesirable or sit at home sulking and cursing the law. In a vibrant democracy the voter should be able to hit effectively at all the political parties to show that all the candidates selected by them are undesirable.

The principle of NOTA is that whereas the government should secure the consent of the governed, at the same time legitimate consent requires the ability to withhold consent. It is also recognised that the provision of NOTA in election law will enable and encourage voters to participate in greater number at election time, and thus indirectly assist in the same process as is sought to be effectuated by providing for compulsory voting. In fact, in 1993 our Supreme Court affirmed that “voting is formal expression of will or opinion by the person entitled to exercise the right on the subject or issue in question” and that “right to vote means right to exercise the right in favour of or against motion or resolution. Such a right implies the right to remain neutral as well.” Thus it is incumbent on the central government to provide effective mechanism for negative voting. As a matter of fact such a provision exists under the rules framed by central government since long – though hardly anyone, including the presiding officers, act on it.