Treat NOTA as fictional electoral candidate: FGG

Hyderabad: The Forum for Good Governance (FGG) on Tuesday stressed on the need to treat NOTA (none of the above) as a fictional electoral candidate to avoid auctioning off post of sarpanch in the ensuing panchayat elections.

Addressing a press conference here, FGG secretary M Padmanabha Reddy said there was an urgent need to make elections pure, fair and transparent. For this the utility of NOTA should be improved. He appealed to the State Election Commission to issue suitable orders on the lines of those issued by the Haryana State Election Commission.

Another FGG secretary Soma Srinivas Reddy said there was a need to give teeth to NOTA so that manipulation in electoral process is checked. The NOTA is a ballot option designed to allow the voter to indicate disapproval of all candidates in a voting system. It is a democratic means to express voter’s resentment rather than boycotting the polls outright. NOTA was introduced in 2013 following the Supreme Court direction. Introduction of NOTA in the electoral system was to force political parties to give tickets to candidates with a clean background and to improve poll percentage.

Votes polled by NOTA during various Assembly and Parliament elections since 2013 was ranging from 1.5 to 2 per cent of total votes polled. In the present system there is no provision for repoll if NOTA gets the highest votes. In Gujarat (Surat Parliament Constituency) main Opposition candidates’ nomination was rejected followed by withdrawal of other independent candidates facilitating unanimous election. In these circumstances it is felt that if NOTA is treated as a fictional candidate unanimous elections could have been prevented. In this connection a case was filed in SC to treat NOTA as a fictional electoral candidate. The court has issued notices to the Election Commission and the Government of India.

In Telangana elections to local bodies are due and likely to commence in the next two-three months. In Gram Panchayat elections held in 2019 in many villages the Village Development Committees auctioned the sarpanch posts; the highest bidder was made elected unopposed as there were no other contestants. This obnoxious practice facilitates the rich to participate in auctions and get elected unopposed. People, especially the weaker sections, will be denied to participate in elections and vote which is a constitutional guarantee. In 2019 in Telangana, close to 16 per cent sarpanches were elected unopposed; most of them participated in the auction.