Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Come, let us do a '49-O', this time...
Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section "49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey to the presiding election officer that he doesn't want to vote for anyone!Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. This is called "49-O".Why should you go and say "I VOTE NOBODY"… because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received "49-O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them. This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way, of our whole political system… it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public….Please spread this news to as many as you know… Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India… show your power, expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than voting… so don't miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O) and pass this info on…"Please forward this mail to as many as possible, so that we, the people of India, can really use this power to save our nation". Use your voting right for a better INDIA.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
27 comments:
ah well...thanks so much for putting this up here...! coz really I DID NOT KNOW THIS. Trust me if i had...i would have definitely followed this! and m now so sure..will be following this for all the future elections till we all as a NaTION get the right one up there who will really want to do good rather than selfish desires.
Cheers!
Thanks for sharing such an useful information. Im sure now this will do the rounds in the e-mailing circles. I wish media also should take part in campaigning this message to bring more awareness in the general public. How ever,I say I would definitely do Vote 49-O until I see a better leader.
Last time I wanted to use it but to my surprise the Preciding Officer said he didn't have the form (49-O). So I had to come back empty handed.
This 49-O form is required when the EVMs are being used. If its the paper ballot paper then don't have to stamp on any of the contestants so it automatically becomes a Not To Vote case and at the counting centres it would be considered as a 49-O form.
Let the revolution begin from this Loksabha election, once there are instances that some of the winning candidates are being thrown out because of the total number of 49-O forms exceed the victory margin then each of the Political Parties would very well think about a better person who is eligible for the post.
Because of this there may be re-elections in some of the constituencies and this would in- return make the election lil bit more expensive. But to get a better leaders for this large nation, this is not much.
I feel better than voting to a okay-okay kind of a condidate, letz vote "Not to Vote" and get a better person for the same.
This is interseting and exciting, but its an email hoax. I have browsed through the constitution but it makes no mention 49-O.
Only A Hoax!!
The much talked about 'alleged feature' of cancellation of candidature in the so called 'section 49O' is not apparent in this Rule 49O of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961. Below is the text of the said Rule for your reference:
49-O. Elector deciding not to vote.-If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.
So you may notice that there is no proviso (or feature as mentioned in the junk mail) for cancellation of candidature. I would also like to further clarify that a remark that the voter has decided not to vote is required to be entered officially is only a mark of procedural convenience. Indeed, Rule 49-O forms a part of Chapter II of Part IV of the Rules and deals only with voting by electronic voting machines. The remark referred to here is an offline entry by the presiding offer (accompanied by the voter's signature) to record the fact that a vote was not electronically recorded even though the voter had registered in the register of voters. This would allow reconciliation of mismatches arising from a situation where you have lesser votes polled in the machines than the names entered and signed in the register of voters.
Please be assured that there is no of provision of cancellation of candidature as is mentioned in the junk mail. Alas!! The notorious leaders are saved yet again again .
Anyways, I save you from burning the non-renewable fuel to reach the Poll Both and making a fool of yourself by saying that I don wanna vote now.
Jokes apart, I request those who press the forward key without checking the veracity of the content of the mail, to control their temptations to forward such mails. If not anything, at least delete this last part, ""Please forward this mail to as many as possible, so that we, the people of India , can really use this power to save our nation".
Use your voting right for a better INDIA.
Let us not lead the lamp of darkness!!
http://www.eci.gov.in/PROPOSED_ELECTORAL_REFORMS.pdf
Above is the document which talks of the negative voting.
Its proposed but we as the citizens need to pressure the Govt. to get this transformed into an act.
The section which talks about the negative voting is as follows:
Sub-section (4) should also be suitably amended to include in its ambit the new proposed
7. NEGATIVE / NEUTRAL VOTING
The Commission has received proposals from a very large number of individuals and organizations
that there should be a provision enabling a voter to reject all the candidates in the constituency
if he does not find them suitable. In the voting using the conventional ballot paper and ballot boxes, an elector can drop the ballot paper without marking his vote against any of the candidates, if he chooses so. However, in the voting using the Electronic Voting Machines, such a facility is not available to the voter. Although, Rule 49 O of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 provides that an elector may refuse to vote after he has been identified and necessary entries made in the Register of Electors and the marked copy of the electoral roll, the secrecy of voting is not protected here inasmuch as the polling officials and the polling agents in the polling station get to know about the decision of such a voter.
The Commission recommends that the law should be amended to specifically provide for
negative / neutral voting. For this purpose, Rules 22 and 49B of the Conduct of Election
Rules, 1961 may be suitably amended adding a proviso that in the ballot paper and the
particulars on the ballot unit, in the column relating to names of candidates, after the
entry relating to the last candidate, there shall be a column “None of the above”, to
enable a voter to reject all the candidates, if he chooses so. Such a proposal was earlier
made by the Commission in 2001 (vide letter dated 10.12.2001).
(A petition by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties seeking such a provision filed at the time of the
recent general elections is pending before the Hon'ble Supreme Court)
whatever happened to secret ballot? one of the rights one has is the non-disclosure of his choice of vote. i think there should be a button (in the case of evoting machines) or an option(in the case of paper ballot) to make this decision without disclosing your opinion.
" it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public.... "
I think I have an answer to that.
Cost of holding an election in India is Rs 1000 crores (as per cost of last election in the country).
Cost of building up all the flyovers on NH-8 = Rs 800 crores.
If election commission popularize this message, then I am pretty sure that hot-headed public will definitely use its "49-O" as the political system is screwed up in India.
Result-> Re-polling. Another 1000 crores down the drain. I would love to see them invested in some useful purpose like building solid infrastructure or opening more schools for free education or investing to hire more security forces to safeguard the country. After all its our own money!
Another thing to note here is that a political candidate in India just act as a representative of the party and I doubt that he/she takes own decisions. How many decisions do you think our honorable PM Mr. Manmohan Singh would have taken that he thought will definitely work? I am sure not too many. So, merely a change in candidate is not going to bring a sea change of difference in the Indian politics.
I agree a change is necessary but it should be a thought out and carefully planned move rather than be aggressive and shoot yourself in the foot type.
Have a great day!
Manan Singh
Dear All,
Regarding the issue of "Right to Reject" an election candidate (or section 49-O of Conduct of Election Rules), I found out some more Interesting Facts:
1) What does Section 49-O say?
"
49-O. Elector deciding not to vote.-If an elector, after his
electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters
in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as
required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his
vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in
Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb
impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark. "
2) What are the implications? Does this mean that there would be re-elections if number of 49-O votes against the winning candidate are more? Will such a winning candidate be barred from re-election?
What section 49-O will do is only to register the persons'(who has selected the option of 49-O) signature or thumb impression. Their vote will be counted, but AS OF TODAY their vote(if 49-O votes are more than the winning candidates votes) will not negate the result. A PIL (by 'peoples union for civil liberties')to this effect is pending in the Hon'ble Supreme Court. There is no Judgement as yet on the Implications of 49-O towards the much hyped re-elections and barring of such candidates from re-election.
3) What happens to the identity of the 49-O voter?
This is the most glaring and criticized matter. Since the 49-O voter is required to sign a form or put his thumb impression, his identity is revealed. This happens as the electronic ballot does not have a button to this effect. This is also against the right of 'secrecy of voting'.
The PIL has addressed these issues and more, however, the judicial system is taking its time in delivering a verdict, as always!
The CEC of India during 2004, Mr. T. S. Krishna Murthy, has made several recommendations to our PM, Mr. Manmohan Singh ji.
Jai Hind
I am bit confused here,,,,,,
Suppose we have 3 candidates
Neta A - Gangster.
Neta B - Rapist.
Neta C - Killer.
You have got 1000 voters in which,
200 - Not voting at all
200 - Educated like us, opted for 49O
400 - People vote for money & drinks
200 - Relatives of Neta A, B & C
In all the cases either Neta A or B or C will win!!!!!!!!!
Distancing more people from the authentic political process is one of the aims of the terrorists. Political indignation should not lead us to political inaction.
Lets not work into the hands of these cowards who want to make our country an anrachy like their own den of fanatic rascals
thanks for sharing this information. Now the common man has to know and use this article 49-0 to say "bahut ho gaya". Now I will spread this information in my circle and also I will use when ever I will get chance
... it is misleading since nothing to this effect is mentiond either in any of the sections of The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 or People's Representative Act nor can it can be constured reading Section 49-0 in conjuction with any other Section/ Act.... -Source: Wikipedia
Here is one way to clean up politics. lets fine tune this idea
http://imaginemyfriend.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-after-mumbai-terror-attack-here-is.html
Tauji, Thanks for informing the public about this not-so-well-known rule. Even I had thought of doing this in the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. But, on looking up more info on the net, I found out that the rule for disqualifying candidate / repoll is not a reality and since the secrecy of voting is betrayed in EVMs, it may inturn be made known to the political parties who may target these voters. Also, PIL is pending before the SC and a letter from CEC in 2004 to the PM. So, I propose that at present, instead of deciding in anger on doing 49O, let us be a little pragmatic and instead concentrate our energies on putting pressure on the PM and all the MPs/politicians to amend the constitution to make provisions for non-voting on EVMs and also to support the group which has filed the case in the SC so as to get a decision which makes the candidates' disqualification & repolling a reality asap.
thanx for the information...
but the question is how effectively we share and spread this to our voter...
social networking sites like orkut,facebook etc may be handi...
Indian netas have used Mahatma Gandhi or later Jayaprakash Narayan to futher there political agenda of attaining fiefdoms in our democratic India. Be it the Congress or BJP or the SP or BSP or the Akalis or the ......, all are only interested in making hay while the sun shines on them. For this reason I vote 49-O or will fill out Form 17A as the case maybe for the rest of my life until the Constitution is amended so that netas can be arrested, sent to jail, and tried as ordinary criminals like the junta for acts of impropriety.
i am glad to know that such a provision also there in our constitution. but what will happen if the election officer of that booth will not be aware about that.And even i just got awareness about this act.i will try this thing in next election if anybody will not be there as per my requirements.
if it is an option to leave ballot paper blank and count as 49 o then the EC should put a button on the EVM so we don't run in to incompetency of not having the form or if some one has the form kindly scan and upload on line and take the form with you when go to vote and take a spare to hand out .
regards
manny
I too forwarded the information when I received it for the first time in the mail since it was a hitherto unknown fact. However I did get it checked with a Constitutional expert and he has confirmed that while there is indeed a 49-O in the Conduct of Elections rules of 1961 modified for Electronic Voting Machines, they cannot impact the result as of now. So that part of the forwarded mail is inaccurate.
I have informed all those to whom I forwarded the first mail of this fact. I still it is important though to inform people of this because a registered "I do not want to vote for any of these candidates" will still get counted and become a major argument if a PIL (I believe there is already one) is filed in a court seeking to negate a result and debar the candidates from standing again in a repoll.
Just because it will not impact the results of an election at present is no reason not to inform our public of the provision in the rules to register our dissatisfaction with the available candiates in an election.
Hopefully, this move might gather momentum and eventually force the Government to put in place the rest. Namely negate the results, get a fresh list of candidates andorder a repol.
Folks please note : Some recent articles and a Dedicated Website on Section 49-0 Falsely suggest that in case the number of votes recorded under Section 49-O is greater than the maximum number of votes polled in favour of any of the candidates, a repoll is held. However it is misleading since nothing to this effect is mentiond either in any of the sections of The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 or People's Representative Act nor can it can be constured reading Section 49-0 in conjuction with any other Section/ Act. In fact Post terrorist Attacks on Mumbai on 26th November 2008 an Urban Myth is being propogated through Internet that a Re-Poll will be held in case the number of No Votes under Section 49-O is more than the Margin of Victory.
We have to use this to great extent & this should be our first upspring to corruption, redtapisum, burocurcy in India. This is very good option with us.
Most of the Indian are not aware of this Law, Like me who have decided and not voted to any party from last 18 years. this time i will vote 49-0.
thax once again for all the infos
@all:
A little knowledge is dangerous.
There are no provisions of an election being canceled, or candidates being debarred by exercising option 49 O. That is wishful thinking.
While there is much angst in every 'aam Indian', as usual there is little application. One of the chief reasons that we are in this morass is the spread of half-baked ideas like this. They generate a lot of heat and dust but shed precious little light.
You may check the relevant provisions of the Conduct of Elections Rules 1961 at http://www.scribd.com/doc/8631026/Conduct-of-Election-Rules
YES V SHOULD PROPOGATE THIS & ALL YOUTH AS WELL AS EVERY CITIZEN IF THEY FEEL THAT NO ONE IS WORTH THEIR VOTE SHOULD CAST PROTEST VOTE..... UNDER SECTION 49O OF 1961 CODE OF CONDUCT ELECTION RULES U CAN CAST UR PROTEST / NEGATIVE VOTE. THE PROCEDURE IS THE SAME AS U VOTE. JUST INPLACE OF PRESSING THE BUTTON STAND IN FRONT OF THE EVM MACHINE & VERBALLY SAY THAT I DONT WANT TO VOTE. WE ALL SHOULD DO IT. JUST VERBALLY BLAMING & SHOUTING AT THE POLITICIAN WILL NOT MK ANY CHANGES THEY R USE TO ALL THIS ANGER OF CITIZEN & THEY KNOW THAT IT IS TEMPORARY EVERYONE WILL FORGET EVERY THING.. BY CASTING THIS PROTEST VOTE WE ARE DOING FOLLOWING THINGS
1) INCREASING THE POLLING % (AS MANY PEOPLE DONT VOTE BECASUE THEY DO NOT LIKE ANY ONE -- SO V CAN FORCE THEM TO CAST PROTEST VOTE)
2) MINIMIZING BOGUS VOTE
3) OPENLY / PRACTICALLY / CONSTITUTIONALLY TELLING THE POLITICIAN THAT V DONT LIKE U
4) WHY SHOULD V SELECT BEST OUT OF THE WORST WHEN V HV THIS OPTION
5) SUPPORTING THE PETTITION WHICH IS IN SUPREME COURT SINCE LAST 7 YRS FOR NON OF THE ABOVE BUTTON.
SO PLS ASK ALL OF UR FRIENDS / RELATIVES ETC. WHO SAY THEY DONT LIKE ANY ONE. TO CAST PROTEST VOTE.....
I AM AN VOLUNTEER OF AGNI (ACTION FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE & NETWORKING IN INDIA) & OUR WARD IS ANDHERI EAST- MUMBAI.........
IN LAST BMC ELECTION V HV PRINTED & CIRCULATED 1 LAKH COPIES OF PAMPLET IN 7 LANGUAGES ASKING PEOPLE IF THEY DONT LIKE ANY CANDIDATES. THEN ALSO VOTE -- CST UR PROTEST VOTE....
SINCE LAST COUPLE OF ELECTION I AM PROTESTING MY VOTE..........
PLS PLS DO IT ON A LARGE SCALE
TIME HAS COME TO DELIVER..... NOT JUST VERBALLY TALKING & FORGETTING IT
TILL DATE THERE IS NO PROVISION OF RE-ELECTION OR CANDIDATES CANNOT STAND AGAIN IF SUPPOSE PROTEST VOTE IS MORE THAN THE VOTE OF THE WINNING CANDIDATE....
BUT IT CAN HAPPEN...
IF WE ALL CAN PUSH THE SUPREME COURT PETITION. BY SUPPORTING IT BY CASTING PROTEST VOTE.....
Hey guys
For your information...
The 49-O system was already implemented in our country since when we began to vote through Electronic polling machines... There is a separate button pointing 49-O and it was explained in the news during election...Its we who did not utilize this properly even after its implementation...Its not the mistake of the election commision
Hey friends we need to spread this I Vote Nobody information to every voter of our country.
Post a Comment