Monday, January 24 2005 23:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: In a significant development, the Election Commission today (Jan 24, 2005) supported a petition before the Supreme Court seeking a right for the voter to cast "negative vote" in an election so as to enable him to say that none of the candidates in fray were worth his vote.

This statement was given by EC counsel S Muralidhar before a Bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti and Justice G P Mathur, which in a lighter vein said "EC is hand-in-glove with the petitioner".

The Bench also issued notice to Attorney General Milon Banerjee and posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks.

The Court asked Muralidhar to bring on record materials pertaining to provisions on negative vote adopted in other countries so as to assist the Court in forming an opinion on the issue.

The petition filed by People's Union for Civil Liberties through advocate Sanjay Parikh stated that at present, the Voter who wanted to exercise the right not to vote had to tell the Returning Officer, who would register his name and address in a election book, thus violating the code of secret ballot.

Keeping this in mind, the Election Commission had written to the Centre, once in 2001 and 2004, suggesting amendments to the Representation of People Act so that provision could be made in the ballot papers and the electronic voting machines (EVMs) allowing casting of negative vote by a voter.