Letter to Editor : None Of The Above : aka NOTA.

Sir , 

For the last 20 - 25 odd years or more ,  time since corruption in the places of power , the Babus and Politicians had acquired such mammoth proportions that it was becoming impossible to vote for a person who was not corrupt.Right thinking people   had almost stopped going to the polling booths or they went to elect a person who was least corrupt.

NOTA provision has come as a breath of fresh air and a game changer . Urban voters and right thinking people now  have the right and the choice to  reject the corrupt politicians , which most of them are .

 However  EC has issued statements that NOTA not withstanding , person getting maximum number of votes will be declared winner . It seems EC has issued such statement without proper application of mind or taking large number of possibilities in to account . Apparently EC has not considered a case where NOTA gets 51 % or more  votes of the total votes cast . In such a case is EC going to declare politician  getting maximum vote the winner ?That would be against the the spirit of NOTA . More importantly it will be against the provision of the our Constitution which says that our government is of the people , for the people and BY THE  people , Obviously if 51% or more of the electorate votes for NOTA it clearly means that the people have no faith and trust in the politicians in the fray . None of them are considered worthy to represent the majority of the population and to get elected.. SC has, presently not entertained PIL to order re-poll but in case of scenario mentioned earlier ,  EC will  have no option but to order a re-poll . It will be a very costly and time consuming proposition but it will FORCE the political parties to nominate persons of integrity and in whom people can trust .  This needs urgent consideration as in present social milieu NOTA getting 51% or more in just held State election is a very very strong  possibility. 

PM Velankar

THIS WAS PUBLISHED 04-12-2013