Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1961 act ( The Conduct of Elections Rules), in section ” 49-O ” that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked, and convey the presiding election officer that he / she doesn’t want to vote anyone !
Yes, such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. This is called ” 49-O “.
Rule 49-O, framed in 1961, gives you the right not to vote, but few know about it. It describes the procedure to be followed when a valid voter decides not to cast his vote, and decides to record this fact. The apparent purpose of this section is to prevent the election fraud or the misuse of votes.
If you are dissatisfied with the candidate of your area, then just don’t sit at home, instead voice your disapproval by registering your 49-O vote at the polling booth on V-day(April 13, 2011) which gives you a right to not to vote.
Procedure for registering 49-O Vote
“Though there is no such button (right not to vote) on an Electronic Voting Machine, there is a provision in the law to record the 49-0 vote manually at polling booths”.
Rule 49-O of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 states that if an elector decides not to record his vote, then the presiding officer shall make a remark to that effect against his name in the register of voters and obtain the latter’s signature or thumb impression against such remark.
Impact of 49-0
Why should you go and say “I VOTE NOBODY ” ? … Because, in a constituency, if a candidate wins, say by 300 votes, and that particular constituency has received ” 49-O” votes more than 300 , 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 would look for genuine candidates to give out tickets.
So Lets make sure we do vote this time and if we don’t like the candidate then We can use 49-0 and say
“I VOTE NOBODY”
