There is an email doing the rounds recently, in light of elections in India (and also the current attacks in Mumbai):
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 does not 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.
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 inIndia
Use your voting rights for a better INDIA.
My fellow Indians, this is a total hoax created by some dimwits out there. There is no such Section in the Indian Constitution or even a 1969 Act. Here is the factual information on 49-O from The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961:
"49-O Elector deciding not to vote: If an elector, after his
So as it states above, the rule is mainly an administrative guideline created by the Electoral office especially with reference to voters who simply decide not to vote. Hence, in such situations, the office may want to keep a record of voters’ negative votes used to tally the total voting ballots gathered. It just does not take into account a vote in favor/against that particular candidate. So it has no bearing on the overall results of the elections! And in no manner can it really cancel ‘polling’ if the candidate’s majority is less than the 49-O votes.
In fact, in the proposed electoral reforms by the Election Commission of India, which was forwarded to the Prime Minister of India in 2004, the following was suggested:
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 in as much 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 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’sUnion
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49-o which may not be the most official source, nevertheless a reference of sorts for those wanting to do further reading and enlighten those spreading false statements]
Democracy does not merely mean freedom of speech and expression but really the responsibility to adhere to those very words. Election is the life-line of a democratic nation so let that be a responsibility we carry and not merely shun it with the hope of betterIndia
In light of the voting issues, we as the voters of our country need to be enlightened, alert and conscientious in ensuring that the right candidate is infact elected. So in order to pursue this, it becomes critical in ensuring that we the voters are educated and informed of these candidates and not merely finding such useless statements and basing decisions on them. It is time we come out of such blame-game situations and indeed take concrete actions and responsibilities. Instead of criticizing and condemning, we the voters actually ought to cast the vote and choose a candidate most appropriate to lead our country. I thought this is realistically not possible till I witnessed the way in whichAmerica
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 does not 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.
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
Use your voting rights for a better INDIA.
My fellow Indians, this is a total hoax created by some dimwits out there. There is no such Section in the Indian Constitution or even a 1969 Act. Here is the factual information on 49-O from The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961:
"49-O Elector deciding not to vote: If an elector, after his
So as it states above, the rule is mainly an administrative guideline created by the Electoral office especially with reference to voters who simply decide not to vote. Hence, in such situations, the office may want to keep a record of voters’ negative votes used to tally the total voting ballots gathered. It just does not take into account a vote in favor/against that particular candidate. So it has no bearing on the overall results of the elections! And in no manner can it really cancel ‘polling’ if the candidate’s majority is less than the 49-O votes.
In fact, in the proposed electoral reforms by the Election Commission of India, which was forwarded to the Prime Minister of India in 2004, the following was suggested:
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 in as much 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 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
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49-o which may not be the most official source, nevertheless a reference of sorts for those wanting to do further reading and enlighten those spreading false statements]
Democracy does not merely mean freedom of speech and expression but really the responsibility to adhere to those very words. Election is the life-line of a democratic nation so let that be a responsibility we carry and not merely shun it with the hope of better
In light of the voting issues, we as the voters of our country need to be enlightened, alert and conscientious in ensuring that the right candidate is infact elected. So in order to pursue this, it becomes critical in ensuring that we the voters are educated and informed of these candidates and not merely finding such useless statements and basing decisions on them. It is time we come out of such blame-game situations and indeed take concrete actions and responsibilities. Instead of criticizing and condemning, we the voters actually ought to cast the vote and choose a candidate most appropriate to lead our country. I thought this is realistically not possible till I witnessed the way in which
