Nota is a good option for sustainable democracy

janvi khetan

“Kya kar sakte hai, lets vote for him, we don’t have any other option”. This is one of the most heard statements at the time of elections, whether it is at block, national or state level. India, the biggest democracy of the world, doesn’t provide us with enough options. What a contradictory scene, on one hand India is a country with 8 national parties and 52 state parties registered under election commission and on the other hand at the time of elections, we don’t have any option. This is an irony. 

First of all it’s important to understand what NOTA is. ‘None Of The Above or NOTA’ is an option provided in the EVM during voting. If a person is not satisfied with any candidates standing in the election, he could simply opt for NOTA. It was first used in India in 2009. Chhattisgarh was the first state to give the option of NOTA to the voters in the local government elections. It made its debut in assembly elections in 2013 in five states-Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and the national capital Delhi. Since its introduction, NOTA have gained increasing popularity amongst the Indian electorate, securing more votes than victory margin.

Supreme Court in support of NOTA gave a judgment that: 

• It is important that people of high moral and ethical values are chosen as people’s representative. 

• For proper governance of the country and NOTA button compel political parties to nominate a sound candidate. 

NOTA have been described as the maturing of Indian democracy. If a voter thinks no candidate is deserving, he/she could still use his voting power (thanks to NOTA). It has always empowered democracy in the following ways: 

➢ It gives candidate an idea regarding proportion of population not believing him and his commitments to people.

➢ For instance there has been cases of entire village deciding to vote for NOTA due to consistent failure of local governments to meet basic requirements like roads, electricity and water. 

Despite various benefits NOTA provide, it has no value in Indian democracy. To understand this let’s look at the following points; 

▪ Even if in any extreme case the number of votes against NOTA is more than the number of votes secured by any candidate, the candidate who secured the largest number of votes among the contesting candidates shall be declared as the winner 

▪ NOTA doesn’t guarantee dismissal of such candidate, as we follow first past the post kind method which deteriorates the idea of NOTA 

▪ Hardly 1% to 2% population vote for NOTA, which eventually turned out meaningless to have NOTA 

▪ Proper legislation for dismissal of candidates needed if certain % of votes is in favor of NOTA. 

▪ That can result in reduced number of corrupt muscle power, casteism, and oriented politicians. 

NOTA are undoubtedly a boon to democracy if the system is improved a bit. NOTA are much needed for sustainable existence of democracy.