Right to Reject

Anna Hazare and his team,had come out with the concept of ‘Right to Reject’ as a part of their movement to reform the existing election system and electoral process for all levels starting from the Gram Panchayat to the Parliament. They had demanded that the list of candidates for any election must have ‘None of These’ as an additional option so that a voter, if not happy with all the candidates in fray, may choose that option. If the votes polled in favour of ‘None of These’ are in majority, then none of the candidates would win and there would be re-election in that constituency with a fresh list of candidates, containing none of the previously rejected lot.

 The demand, as it had been put forward and recently approved by the Supreme Court of India directing the Election Commission to do necessary changes, may appear an attractive proposition but there are certain aspects which must be considered judiciously.

 (1) What do we actually want to attain by ‘Right to Reject’? What if the voters of some constituency reject another lot of candidates too, when re-election takes place? Shall we go for yet another re-election? We must not forget that frequent elections add to the financial burden and it is voters who ultimately bear this burden.

 (2) If we analyze the results of previous elections (all elections that took place after Independence) we find many examples in which, for one or the other reason, an honest and suitable candidate loses election and some notorious antisocial element gets elected as an MLA or an MP.

 (3) A person, as a voter, casts his / her vote in favour of a candidate under the influence of several factors. It is a pitiable situation that even after more than six decades of Independence and a lot more socio-economical development along with education spreading to once inpenetrable tribal and poverty-bound pockets, a majority of us vote based on caste, creed, religion, provincialism and nepotism.

 (4) During elections, generally, we observe very low voter turnout for which there may be several reasons. But the major reasons are: (i) Indifference on the part of a large proportion of voters towards the election and (ii) pessimistic view of some voters who assume that their vote is not going to make much difference and their candidate is bound to lose.

 (5) Some voters keep away from voting assuming that whosoever gets elected, will ultimately practise one or other form of corruption and use the power delegated to him / her to increase personal wealth without worrying much about the common man’s problems. Not voting for this reason is as good as ‘None of These’.

 My personal view, therefore, is that instead of going for the option of ‘Right to Reject’, we should carry out a nation-wide movement of political awakening which persuades voters to vote by their conscience without being influenced by the trivial factors like caste, creed, religion, etc. The political parties must exhibit wisdom by fielding only candidates with good social background, history of service to mankind, clear image and versatility in administrative processes. To me, ‘Right to Reject’ appears to be somewhat absurd proposition.