The Supreme Court’s direction to the Election Commission that it introduce the none-of-the-above option in voting machines is a big stride towards cleansing the electoral process. It is a boon to those who have been disinterested in exercising their vote.
It has been left to the judiciary to play the role of our legislature which is supposed to bring in political and electoral reforms. This is perhaps because many politicians are involved in scams and have been accused of corruption.
Shaikh Jamir Munir,New Delhi
Our election system involves a process of electing one candidate who gets more votes than the others. In this system, there is no scope for rejecting all candidates. The Election Commission is now readying itself to include the NOTA option in the EVMs. But how is it going to change the election process? The option will only help us to know how many voters rejected all the candidates. The candidate who gets the highest number of votes will be declared elected under the present electoral laws — even if 50 per cent of the voters exercise the no-vote option. Unless the election rules are changed, the whole exercise will be rendered futile.
K.V. Ravindran,Payyanur
