The Hindu Business Line : Right not to vote

FROM THE point of view of the argument that the right to vote is an extremely precious attribute of Indian parliamentary democracy and that, therefore, the right in question ought to be protected at all cost, it is easy to conclude that no voter eligible to cast his franchise under the laws of the land should be allowed to waste his vote.

The converse of this standpoint is tantamount to saying that any citizen of India who has the right to vote must compulsorily cast his vote. In other words, he must necessarily choose from the list of candidates he is presented in the polling booth.

The two important issues involved here are: Is this morally right in a "sovereign socialist secular democratic republic" and, second, is such a stand legally defensible? To take the first point, in a parliamentary democracy of the Indian sort, the underlying principle of sending legislators to Parliament and the State Assemblies is that of "unfettered choice".

That is, the voter is free to choose among candidates figuring in the "list of candidates" he is confronted with in a polling booth, the choice depending on his decision on who he thinks will best represent his views in the legislature.

But why should the exercise of "choice" be limited to choosing among the candidates whose names figure in the list before the voter in the polling booth?

The electorate has nothing to do with the drawing up of the list, and it is possible that a voter may not approve of the idea of sending any of the official poll contestants to the legislature.

In such conditions, if he still has to choose among the names before him, the very principle of free choice is violated. Indeed, an element of compulsion creeps into the voting process which can be said to strike at the very heart of the Indian republic.

What this means is that, for the sake of complete consistency, the voter should be allowed to say no to the official list of candidates which, translated into simple terms, would mean that he is not happy with the prospect of any of the official candidates representing him in the legislature.

Certainly, there is nothing morally indefensible about this stand. On the contrary, the element of choice in the system of adult franchise would be even better protected thus making the right to vote even more precious, in a manner of speaking.

Under the law, there is no specific provision which makes it compulsory for the voter to cast his vote. But he can decline to do so only if he reveals his identity to the polling officials present in the booth.

Clearly, this procedure violates the principle of "secrecy of the ballot", which lies at the heart of the electoral system in this country.

Not only this, it indirectly makes an official distinction between voters who decide to choose among the available candidates and those who decide otherwise, which probably will fall foul of the provision of the fundamental right to equality granted to every citizen under the Constitution.

As is well-known, the Election Commission has seen merit in this standpoint, so much so that it has officially asked for an amendment of the existing laws (specifically Rules 22 and 49B of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961) in order to "enable a voter to reject all the candidates, if he chooses to do so" while maintaining secrecy of the ballot.

Summing up, one can say that, theoretically, this legal provision should have been in the books right from the earliest days of the republic.

Given the observed fact that there has been no appreciable improvement in the quality of our legislators over the decades, the institution of such an amendment has become pressing today in view of the increasing possibility of a larger number of voters than previously not approving the candidates nominated by the political parties.

Ranabir Ray Choudhury

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