Toothless NOTA ‘not protest but surrender’

SHILLONG: The Election Commission of India had implemented None of The Above (NOTA) option in EVMs but the state Election Department is currently on a job to convert the negative votes of NOTA.
Though the NOTA option was implemented to provide a space for those who did not want to choose any of the candidates, this has not served any purpose.
Even if NOTA gets maximum votes after the polls, the winner will still be a candidate who is the runner-up after NOTA.
In this context, the Election Department has come up with the concept of ‘Not voting is not a protest but a surrender’, to change the mindset of voters.
“We have launched an awareness campaign to tell voters that not voting for a right candidate leads to surrender of votes and it is not at all a protest but waste of votes,” said Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Kharkongor.
There were as many as 29,983 votes polled under NOTA in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls for both Shillong and Tura seats.