New Delhi, September 27
Now there will be no reason to not exercise the right to vote even if there is no deserving candidate on the list.

Moving towards the empowerment of voters, the Chief Electoral Office (CEO) might include the option of "Right to Reject" in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to be used for the Delhi Assembly elections slated for November.

Reacting to the Supreme Court's judgment that "Right to Reject" be included in the EVMs, CEO Vijay Dev said that there are possibilities of including the option. He welcomed the verdict and said that it should be strictly complied with.

"This is a welcome verdict. The directions issued by Election Commission of India (ECI) in pursuant to this verdict will be strictly complied with," said Dev. "The decision might be implemented from this assembly elections," he said.

The Supreme Court today directed the ECI to provide "none of the above options" at the end of the list of candidates in EVMs and ballot papers to allow voters to reject those contesting polls.

This will give citizens a right to cast negative vote rejecting all candidates contesting polls and would encourage people not satisfied with contestants to turn up for voting.

However, Ajay Maken, Member of Parliament from New Delhi district, said that the topic needs to be debated as it will arise several questions pertaining to the election process. He said it would make least difference as there are many people who do not turn up for voting because they do not like any of the candidates.

"There is no objection to the verdict. But since we have Parliamentary form of democracy, the decision will have to seen clearly as many questions needs to be clarified. For example, what will happen if the number of rejections crosses the first post or the candidate with maximum votes…," said Maken.

New Delhi, September 27
The landmark judgment of the Supreme Court that empowers citizens with the right to reject in secrecy was hailed by people, activists and many political parties.

This step according to Delhi-based RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal is yet another progressive measure brought in by the judiciary and feels Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam deserves all compliments for its verdict-after-verdict for ensuring purity in political system with the latest being the much-awaited right of 'Right to Reject' now to be put on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

However, another remedy has to be brought in for situation when 'None-To-Vote' exceeds the votes polled by candidates in a particular seat may be in the form of re-polls.

"All candidates rejected by 'None-To-Vote' getting maximum votes should be barred to contest any election for lifetime. Also, to prevent the rejection option winning in re-polls caused because of voters rejecting all the candidates, option of 'None-To-Vote' may be disabled on EVMs for the re-poll," said Agrawal.

Clearly, this would also raise the percentage of votes polled because those not liking any of the candidates now will go to vote to record their dissent against all the available candidates during polls. Until now, even though the right was available to citizens under rule 49(o), the voters had to disclose in writing that they do not wish to vote.

New Delhi, September 27
A day after BJP's visit to Rashtrapati Bhawan, leading a five-member delegation of Aam Aadmi Party's convenor Arvind Kejriwal today called on President Pranab Mukherjee urging him not to approve the ordinance to shield tainted politicians from contesting elections.

"We have conveyed our opposition that reflects the anger of the people and urged him not to sign it. A lot of political parties are now opposing the ordinance but if they are clear with their intentions, I challenge such parties to declare that they will field tainted people as candidates," said Kejriwal accompanied by party members Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh after meeting the President.

New Delhi, September 27
Scattered light rainfall today brought some respite from hot and humid conditions in Delhi.

Rainfall in the evening saw the city receiving around 0.4mm showers in the Safdarjung area and 1mm at Palam, weather officials said.

The national Capital witnessed partially cloudy skies with the maximum temperature recorded at 34.2° C. The minimum went a notch above normal to touch 24.3° C.

Humidity in air fluctuated between 58 and 88 per cent, the MeT office said, adding that no rainfall was recorded between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm.

The forecast is for partially cloudy skies tomorrow with possibility of light rainfall and thundershowers in some areas. — PTI