COIMBATORE: As the curtains came down on a lackluster urban local body poll in Tamil Nadu on Saturday, several voters seem to be disappointed with the lack of option to vote for their most preferred candidate — NOTA.
“In the last Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, I had cast my vote for “None of the Above (NOTA)” option given by the Election Commission of India. I didn’t think any of the candidates will fulfill their poll promises,” says K Boopal (27) of Veerakeralam of Coimbatore who was disappointed over the lack of option to choose NOTA for the local body polls in his ward 40.
Like Boopal, many other NOTA enthusiasts too were disappointed after reaching the polling station without knowing that NOTA option is not available in local body polls.
Boopal told TNIE, “Like previous elections, I came to the polling booth to vote for NOTA, but it was not available on the EVM. Since booth agents had marked my name on the voters’ list, I was compelled to vote for a candidate. The election commission has not publicized enough its decision to scrap NOTA option this time, “he said.
Another voter, C Mathialagan in Perur told TNIE, “Like the Election Commission of India, the State Election Commission too should have given NOTA option to voters in local body polls. The SEC also did not use VVPAT machines in polling stations. If they had used VVPATs, it would have enhanced the credibility of the electoral process.”
A presiding officer in a Coimbatore city booth said, “We came to know that there won’t be NOTA option only during our election training.” A few days back, in a complaint filed with State Election Commissioner V Palanikumar, NGO Arappor Iyakkam has said that the non-inclusion of NOTA in urban local body polls is a violation of fundamental rights.