Wednesday, September 20, 2006

The first step...

I have taken the first step. Blogging is like opening your thoughts to anyone who chooses to read. It's kind of scary and exciting at the same time. I have taken the plunge, now I've got to learn to swim!

For all those in India, something new that has been running on my mind of late has been the Section 49-O of the Indian Constitution. I know it has been doing the rounds on email but I want to do some research on it and see if we can all start off a movement to benefit the country in the long run. The time has long gone past when we just sat and complained about things not working. Time to stand up and take control over our lives.

This is what I have read so far on Section 49 (O).

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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 the presiding election officer that he 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". 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...
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Now, I would like to spend some time doing my own research on how effective this would be, what are the legalities that might help the exiting political system make the whole plan backfire. If anyone reading this post has any comments, please share it along!

1 comment:

  1. I just found some more info on this

    Check this out...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49-O#External_links

    You might want to share this with people who have received emails on this because even in the "Conduction of Election Rules" http://lawmin.nic.in/ld/subord/cer1.htm
    I couldn't find any reference to a repoll if the number of 49(O) votes are high etc.

    The reason why you would invoke this right would be to ensure that no one else votes on your behalf. It's primarily to record that the person went to the booth and "chose" not to vote for anyone.

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