"When political parties realize that a large number of people are expressing their disapproval with the candidates being put up by them, gradually there will be a systemic change and the political parties will be forced to accept the will of the people and field candidates who are known for their integrity," the bench said.
Allowing the petition filed by People's Union for Civil Liberties, pending in the court since 2004, the bench compared NOTA (none of the above) to the 'abstain' option chosen by MPs and MLAs while voting on issues in legislatures.
Accepting arguments by senior advocate Rajinder Sachar and advocate Sanjay Parikh, the bench said, "NOTA button being sought for petitioners is exactly similar to the 'abstain' button since by pressing the NOTA button, the voter is in effect saying that he is abstaining from voting since he does not find any of the candidate to be worthy of his vote. The mechanism of negative voting, thus, serves a very fundamental and essential part of a vibrant democracy."
The 48-page unanimous judgment, authored by Chief Justice Sathasivam, took a cue from 12 countries where NOTA is in vogue. The 12 countries are Bangladesh, France, Belgium, Brazil, Greece, Finland, Sweden, US, Spain, Ukraine, Chile and Colombia besides the state of Nevada in the US.
The NOTA proposal has been lying with the government for the last 14 years. The Law Commission of India on May 29, 1999, had favoured NOTA in its 170th report to then law minister Ram Jethmalani. The Centre had sought the commission's view on this issue on November 2, 1995.
The bench said, "Democracy is all about choices. The choice can be better expressed by giving the voters an opportunity to verbalize themselves unreservedly and by imposing least restrictions on their ability to make such a choice. By providing NOTA button in the EVMs, it will accelerate the effective political participation in the present state of democratic system and the voters in fact will be empowered."
The court believed that conferring right to cast negative vote on common man would force political parties to field candidates of integrity, which is a crying need. It also rejected the Centre's argument that the right to secret ballot was available only to those who cast a positive vote in favour of a candidate and not to those who prefer not to choose an option.
"We are of the considered view that in bringing out this right to cast negative vote at a time when electioneering is in full swing, it will foster the purity of the electoral process and also fulfill one of its objective, namely, wide participation of people," the bench said.
NOTA would encourage voters, who generally shy away from participating in the voting process given the credentials of candidates, to cast their vote which would deter unscrupulous elements from impersonating to cast vote on their behalf, the court said.
"Further, a 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," Justice Sathasivam said.
The EC had told the court that providing NOTA option in EVMs did not involve significant financial implications nor change in its software. EC had said if the court upheld the NOTA option, then the last button on the EVM could be earmarked for this option.
"We direct the EC to provide necessary provision in the ballot papers and EVMs and another button called 'none of the above' (NOTA) may be provided in EVMs so that the voters who come to the polling booth and decide not to vote for any of the candidates in the fray, are able to exercise their right not to vote while maintaining their right of secrecy," the bench said.
"We direct the EC to implement the same in a phased manner or at a time with the assistance of the government of India. We also direct the government of India to provide necessary help for the implementation of the above direction. We also direct EC to undertake awareness programmes to educate the masses," the court said.
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