Negative Voting Not A Right Option, says Ex-CEC
Ignoring a rising demand for “the right not to vote”, the former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami has cautioned that negative voting is not a right option.
Cautioning the country against negative voting, Gopalaswami said that there is already a provision in the law to opt for 49 form (O) but there is no button for it (on EVM) but this negative voting should not be overemphasized.
In a function organized by Indian Women’s Press Corps, he said, “The purpose is to choose a person and it should not be taken to an extreme where everybody decides nobody is fit. If we press the button, it would be an extreme view,” he said.
On the topic of mushrooming political parties in the country, the ex-CEC opined that the Commission should have a power to deregister political parties which are either inactive or have not participated in the election process. He said three parties are registered everyday at present.
“There are too many political parties. Seven national parties 49 state parties and over 900 small parties. But we do not have the power to recognise such political parties that have remained inactive or not participated in the elections,” He said.
