NOTA - How good or bad is it? Post 1

I recently read that an NGO somewhere in our beautiful land is protesting that the Election Commission should not keep the NOTA or None Of The Above option as merely informational. In case, they protest, NOTA gets more votes than anyone else, the largest vote getting "real" candidate should not be declared as winner.

Supreme Court in September of 2013 had declared that NOTA will henceforth be an option in the voting machine in all Indian elections. The decision has obviously been taken after a lot of thought and surely the impact must have been discussed over a short and a long term.

NOTA as explained by Hindustan Times

I wanted to look at this option from two perspectives:

1. What kind of people who live in and around us will push the NOTA button?
2. One election has already seen NOTA in action (December, 2013 assembly elections in 5 states). What was the result? I will take this up in the next post.

Social Media is a great tool to understand the current trends and thought processes of people. If you are in India today, you will surely say that elections are the current "hit" on Facebook, Twitter and maybe even Orkut (if it exists). There are people who support BJP & Modi (me included) and then there are people who have other affiliations like AAP or even Congress (imagine that!). Then there is a distinct number of people who seem proud of the fact that they find the entire system and all political parties as corrupt and inhuman. They find consolation in the fact that either they "Will Definitely Not Vote" or click NOTA. Hats off to you guys! You have just made the worst decision of your life (in my honest opinion). Ask a Chinese or a North Korean what he will not give to go and give an honest vote. If nothing worked in India, surely elections would be the biggest farce that existed.

My opinion in such cases where NOTA (God forbid) votes exceeded anyone else's would be to allow NOTA to rule. Let their be no government and no laws. Let people "enjoy" and let Darwin's theory of "Survival of the Fittest" rule. My skin crawls when I think of such scenario and all those Hollywood movies with zombies running around start playing in my mind.

A government may be corrupt and may not do anything for us. But at least it allows for us to live in somewhat and relative peace. We can at least go to work every morning with an assurance that their is a better probability that we will return in the evening. How will NOTA do that for you?

I feel that even if there is a staunch BSP supporter, he at least knows what he is doing. He / she has made a decision and is sticking to it. Indecision should not be hidden behind the garb of not going to vote or simply clicking NOTA.

Just a thought: What is the point of going all the way to a voting station and then click NOTA anyway? Possibly the thought is "I am anyway planning to waste my vote. Why not waste my and polling officer's time as well while I am at it!"

NG