NOTA - not a option

I have been wanting to write about the ‘None of the above’ option on the Electronic Voting Machines since it was mandated by Supreme Court but somehow procrastinated over it. Got to see post the elections in the 5 states dubbed ‘Semi-final to the general elections’, I just have more reasons, data, numbers and armour to back my claims.

The day Supreme Court validated the right of the electorate to reject all the candidates, all hell broke loose on social media with #NOTA being the top trending topic. People went ballistic as to how they now have a reason to visit the polling booth before of this empowerment of picking ‘none of the above’ over all the rest party symbols. All the cynics who I am pretty sure don’t even have faintest of the idea of how a polling booth looks, were singing yodels about the empowerment of the electorate it would bring about.

In fact there is nothing new about NOTA option per se. The Indian constitution had always provided us with this option of rejecting all the candidates. Remember those mail forwards regarding Section 49(O) that used to flood our inboxes whenever any election was round the corner?

For the uninitiated, Under the existing provisions of Section 49(O) of the Representation of People Act, a voter who after coming to a polling booth does not want to cast his vote, has to inform the presiding officer of his intention not to vote, who in turn would make an entry in the relevant rule book after taking the signature of the said elector. He thus would be exercising his right for not picking any of the candidates in the fray. The issue with the process besides being cumbersome was that it would reveal the identity of the voter which amounted to violation of his secret ballot entitlement. With the recent judgement the apex court just conceded that Section 49(O) in its present form was violative of the constitutional provisions guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) (Freedom of Speech and Expression) and Article 21 (Right to Liberty) and violated the concept of secret ballot. It further directed the Election Commission to start implementing NOTA button on EVMs forthwith in a phased manner and asked the Centre to render all assistance.

The Supreme Court bench in its prudence think that negative voting would foster purity and vibrancy of elections and ensure wide participation as people who are not satisfied with the candidates in the fray would also turn up to express their opinion rejecting contestants. I for once and whole heartedly disagree with this thought process of the honourable court. I do not think the empowering with option of NOTA is any a panacea towards the deep cynicism that has ingrained in some of the voters. More so I dis-agree that it’s the onus of Supreme Court to coax people out of their siestas, picnics or apathy towards the system.

Though the judgement might have been passed with noble intentions, I suspect it might end up doing more harm than good in due course. The way I look at the mind-set of the large sections of Indian electorate is that they do tend to go for the lesser evil amongst all. On most occasions we might not see the name of the person on the EVM whom we would actually want to see as our legislature but then we have gotten used to picking the best candidate among the lot; so I would believe with a tinge of hope. If I am allowed to largesse to assume that these #NOTA voters would have otherwise voted for the lesser evil, they might end up inadvertently helping the greater evil.

Very often the difference in the victory margins is so trivial, that the quantum of votes cornered by NOTA would actually turn the results topsy-turvy.  The recently concluded elections in the states of Madhya-Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi had seen NOTA claiming vote percentage up to 3%. For the number-crunchers types who strictly go by the numbers and stats following is the analysis (courtesy mint): They have examined the impact of NOTA on the margins of victory which suggests there are 56 constituencies were the margin of victory less than the number of votes polled by NOTA. Of these 26 are in Madhya Pradesh, 15 in Chhattisgarh, 11 in Rajasthan and four in Delhi. Given that the Chhattisgarh assembly has 90 seats, one-sixth of all its seats were decided by a margin less than the number of votes polled by NOTA in those constituencies. In Madhya Pradesh, this proportion fell to one-tenth, and it was closer to one-twentieth in Rajasthan and Delhi. Such a huge vote share has potential to change the turn the outcome of an election in case of close contest and thereby adversely seal the faith of the AAM Aadmi for at least the next 5 years.

Offering my respects where due, contesting an election needs a lot of courage; keep aside the financial prowess as well as backing of the masses. It’s unfortunate that we have had candidates of more shady characters than none, but NOTA is no cure to it. I feel NOTA in its present form won’t coax any of the good candidates to file their nomination papers.

Another thing I feel is that NOTA will just remain as hype among few voters, especially urban and the cynics. It might see some takers during the early adoption phase but soon it will taper out left to itself. One reason for its prospective demise would be Supreme Court clarification which says the NOTA option is simply hypothetical—votes marked to “none of the above” would simply be ignored while deciding the winner and it wouldn’t matter even if over half the votes were for NOTA. This renders NOTA as nothing more than a placebo. This very clarification from SC voids its original reasoning which said having NOTA option would prompt people out of their couches. How would be selecting none of the candidates be any different for skipping the exercise the adult franchise altogether?

Ours is a participatory democracy and the zest of the system lie in people participating in its day-to-day running, directly or indirectly. Though the intent behind getting NOTA might not be flawed, its utility and relevance are still in reasonable doubt. Empowering people with such rights should be tagged along with enforcing some obligatory duties on them which would prevent its misuse. Provisions like NOTA would only be effective if you precede it with compulsory voting upon people. Needless to say it should also be provided with more teeth, which should range from calling fresh elections if NOTA garners highest vote share, and even barring the same candidates for contesting subsequent elections.

Until such amendments aren’t done, we need to keep the 5 yearly exercises to its literal meaning… let it be ‘election’, NOT A ‘rejection’.

Tired but still not retired

After his rousing welcome on his way to the center of ‘The Oval’, the batsman mapped the field, took guard and lifted his head to sight the bowler at the other end of the 22 yard. There, William Eric Hollies was getting ready for his glide to the popping crease. The mundane wrist-spinner was no awe inspiring, neither on verge of any record equaling scalps nor flaunting any impressive bowling stats. However he himself was oblivious that the following ‘roll of his arm over the shoulder’ would catapult him into cricketing history. For he was to castle the person who was on verge to etch his name in cricketing ‘hall of fame’.  

That batsman being ‘The Don’. Sir Donald George Bradman was playing his last innings, with just four runs needed for him to catapult him in ‘100 runs average’ club. Thus he was almost destined to be the first and thus far the only one to average above 100 with significant number of tests under his belt. As destiny would have, it wasn’t to be.  Bradman pushed forward to the second ball that he faced, was deceived by a googly, and bowled between bat and pad for a duck. An England batting collapse resulted in an innings defeat, denying Bradman the opportunity to bat again and so his career average finished at 99.94.

That elusive 3-figure mark or not, Bradman is acknowledged to be the greatest batsman to walk the earth. For his charisma would have heightened no more, had he dispensed the piece of leather to the fence in his last innings. In fact I believe that ‘ghost of 99’ has just added to his laurel. He could have extended his career by another series if he wanted to and thus achieved the coveted mark, but would he be respected as much then? My answer is a big ‘No’. Sometimes calling it a day on a high is much more remembered than dragging your feet to get past some psychological mark. 

The genius of a person as per yours truly is certainly what that individual has achieved over his career span and not what milestone he has stopped at. At times, one can achieve much more and hog more limelight by ‘intentionally’ stopping short of something. Remember Mark Taylor? He made headlines in 1998 when he declared while on 334 against Pakistan so that he wouldn’t usurp the great Don Bradman, thus paving his way in history. I doubt there would be even a handful who remembers Matthew Hayden’s record 380 against Zimbabwe over Taylor’s act of ‘respect’. Mark Taylor definitely could have rode past the Don’s score to become the highest individual scorer for Australia, but his legacy would have lasted only until some other mortal surpassed him.

Pardon me for sacrilege, but unfortunately we Indians have failed to hang our shoes at the right time irrespective of field of work. Be that grumpy octogenarian politician still wanting to be the prime-minister, those wannabes actor sons desperately hunting for that one box-office hit or that ‘godly’ cricketer still hunting for the elusive century of centuries, all of them have stretched their luck a bit too far. In the process all they have achieved is to just take some sheen off their illustrious career.

One might feel motivated to go on and on, but then you are no ‘lifeless’ Duracell bunny and life isn’t a 100m dash. It isn’t where you zip off at the sound of the gunshot just to halt on feeling the satin ribbon across your chest. In fact it is like a relay race which boils down to swiftly and smoothly passing on the baton to your compatriot, who would thus carry your legacy forward. You may have been a ‘torch-bearer’ of the team for long, a father figure to many, but when a child looks up to his father ‘his idol’, he expects him to emulate him one day. And though one has been at the forefront spearheading his folks still believing he has the zest left in him to lead, it is for him to sidestep and let the urderling step into his shoes at the most opportune time. With all the achievements in ones kitty there comes along most important responsibility to make way for the generation next.