ACTIVISTS SEEK AMENDMENT TO CONDUCT OF ELECTION RULES
LUCKNOW: People have the right to elect their representatives, but not many know that they also have the right to reject them under the Representation of the People Act (RPA).
Thanks to the awareness drive by social activists, after which voters exercised this privilege, though not overwhelmingly, during the UP Assembly polls in 2012.
“This would not have happened had we not petitioned the Election Commission (EC) to ensure that Form 17 A was available at polling booths,” recalls Athar Hussain, who had campaigned with other NGOs.
A group of petitioners including IC Dwivedi, SR Darapuri, Naveen Tewari, Prabha Chaturvedi, Bobby Ramakant Urvashi Sharma, Col. (retd.) Kulbhushan Madar, Arundhati Dhuru, Sudhakar Reddy, Devesh Patel and Sandeep Pandey had urged the State Election Commission in 2012 to provide ‘right to reject’ button on the EVMs.
These campaigners for reforms feel that an amendment to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 should be made to allow annulment of the election if the rejection figure exceeds the number of maximum votes polled by a candidate in a constituency.
Moreover, those rejected should not be allowed to stand up and re-contest the polls again. “Several people had exercised this option (right to reject) in the polls in Lucknow. The trend is on the rise because of people’s disenchantment with corrupt candidates,” said SR Darapuri, vice-president of PUCL.