Certainly, this is an interesting question to ponder upon. With the Elections of Loksabha hovering over our head, and the verdict quite clear that it is going to be the 3rd Front which will be the King-maker, the petty politics and shameful drama is going to unfold in the next couple of months. We will have to keep our eyes glued on all of this. The electorial candidates many of them having criminal backgrounds with pending criminal cases still running in courts make up the parliament of our country. The Indian citizens have no choice but to choose a less worse candidate among the worst. That is the plight of every Indian which he/she has to live with.
Just consider this example where in Shibu Soren, Pappu Yadav, Md Shabuddin, and Raja Bhaiyya are contesting from one seat, all are notorious criminals. Just consider the plight of the voters for that particular seat. They have no choice but to vote for the least bad person out of the lot. The Election Commission says that the best way to keep out criminals it to hand over the 'none of the above option'. So a separate button is being proposed. The Election Commission told the Supreme Court that it wants to offer the voter the right to reject. It will be at the bottom of the choices on the EVM machine.
This actually sounds a very good option as it will also teach the political parties few lessons of morality, and probably will force them to select proper candidates in future elections. Though, I consider this to be a very bold step, and I still cannot see this happening for the next 10 years to come, I still hope that Supreme Court understands the responsibility of political parties too so that they give better choice to the citizens of India.
Though, as I just said, it does not seem possible in the near future, and the government has been opposing this proposal. The government says "It will frustrate the electoral process and is not good for democracy.'' The reason the government comes forward with this reason is because this government itself is based upon the petty politics of alliance and breaking and bonding of selfish, money-minded, degraded people.
There is a need to cast a hawk’s eye on the political parties and the contestants who tend to unleash their money, muscle and liquor power on the voters to garner votes. I regret that such a sad situation sarisen in the Indian electoral history due to criminalisation of politics, especially during the last two decades which in its wake saw ‘law-breakers’ becoming the ‘law-makers’.
Also read one story here - http://observationalism.com/2008/12/25/yearning-for-a-none-of-the-above-ballot-option/
While the Election Commission seems positive about introducing this option on the EVM machines, the hopes of Indian citizens still stay put at the horizon, as the Government is in no mood to do take the righteous steps to give clean and correct candidates.
Just consider this example where in Shibu Soren, Pappu Yadav, Md Shabuddin, and Raja Bhaiyya are contesting from one seat, all are notorious criminals. Just consider the plight of the voters for that particular seat. They have no choice but to vote for the least bad person out of the lot. The Election Commission says that the best way to keep out criminals it to hand over the 'none of the above option'. So a separate button is being proposed. The Election Commission told the Supreme Court that it wants to offer the voter the right to reject. It will be at the bottom of the choices on the EVM machine.
This actually sounds a very good option as it will also teach the political parties few lessons of morality, and probably will force them to select proper candidates in future elections. Though, I consider this to be a very bold step, and I still cannot see this happening for the next 10 years to come, I still hope that Supreme Court understands the responsibility of political parties too so that they give better choice to the citizens of India.
Though, as I just said, it does not seem possible in the near future, and the government has been opposing this proposal. The government says "It will frustrate the electoral process and is not good for democracy.'' The reason the government comes forward with this reason is because this government itself is based upon the petty politics of alliance and breaking and bonding of selfish, money-minded, degraded people.
There is a need to cast a hawk’s eye on the political parties and the contestants who tend to unleash their money, muscle and liquor power on the voters to garner votes. I regret that such a sad situation sarisen in the Indian electoral history due to criminalisation of politics, especially during the last two decades which in its wake saw ‘law-breakers’ becoming the ‘law-makers’.
Also read one story here - http://observationalism.com/2008/12/25/yearning-for-a-none-of-the-above-ballot-option/
While the Election Commission seems positive about introducing this option on the EVM machines, the hopes of Indian citizens still stay put at the horizon, as the Government is in no mood to do take the righteous steps to give clean and correct candidates.
