The Supreme Court’s recognition of “negative voting” as a constitutional right is by all means a giant step forward for the voter. Civil society has thus won an important and vital point. From here the next logical step will be one of raising the status of the button to that of “negative vote” with consequences, in other words a vote for ‘rejection’ of all candidates, instead of its current status of merely being “no vote or negative vote.” This step would inevitably have to follow if political parties do not see the writing on the wall and belie the expectation that NOTA “will indeed compel the political parties to nominate a sound candidate,” as the Supreme Court said. Read More