I was delighted to read this news item that SC is still acting upon the issue of negative voting as a voter’s right. This right still exists, but is not simple to carry out and majority of the people do not know about it. Negative voting as a right should be as simple as casting a ( positive) vote. And this right will be revolutionary in many steps: the right to cast a negative vote will bring the real power to the voters. If this is combined with a provision to set a minimum percentage of votes to be gained to emerge victorious, this will fundamentally weed out goons of our political system. Think about it: this is a real right which is long due.

The full news story is: (NDTV)

The Supreme Court on Feb 23, 2009 referred to a larger bench the question as to whether a voter should be permitted to cast a negative vote during elections.

A two-judge bench of Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi said the issue needs to be examined by a larger bench as the question involved interpretation of a citizen’s fundamental right.

The bench also requested the Chief Justice to refer the matter to an appropriate larger bench for further consideration.

People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), an NGO, had approached the apex court seeking directions to the Centre to ensure amendment to the Representation of People’s Act (RPA) so that a voter can mark “none of the above” in the electronic voting machine.

This is because presently a voter if he or she desires not to cast vote in favour of any candidate, he or she should mandatorily inform the presiding officer of the polling booth.

Such a pre-condition was violative of the citizens right under Article 19(2) (Freedom of Expression and Speech) and makes the voter vulnerable to threats and intimidation from political parties, the PUCL had state