Offtopic? not really? on Rule 49-0 of "The Conduct of Elections Rules", 1961

While I do want to talk about political system, including the reforms for the current voting system, I was confused if I want to take up the 49-O in this series or not.

(Don't worry, I am not a politician!... read on)

First things first... if you still just know this topic from the chain mails you may have got. Beware of the hoaxes....... I suggest, do read http://www.49-o.info/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49-O

As per wikipedia, "A hoax has been circulating which claims that if the '49-O' votes more than those of the winning candidate, then that poll will be canceled and will have to be re-polled. Furthermore, it claims that the contestants will be banned and they cannot contest the re-polling for their life time."

Obviously, this is not true (as of current implementation). The current implementation will just ensure that bogus voting, (someone else impersonating you to vote) will be difficult. This way, you can protect your right and save the system from being cheated by cunning politicians.

But all that did awaken people about their rights and some groups would try to get something implemented on similar lines. To some extent, this may help.


Why 'to some extent'? Ofcourse that will not ensure us a good government. That will just ensure that the criminal as well as dishonest politicians will face new challenges.

Election is meant to be a process for CHOOSING the right candidate, and not for 'NOT CHOOSING'.

This will be particularly effective where the criminals have completely taken over the political space. If all the candidates available have criminal background, it will be difficult for the honest people to contest the election. Sometimes, the nexus of the criminal politicians with the system will be huge challenge. ONLY for such cases, 49-O empowerment would help.


However, there are still a lot more measures that must be taken to ensure better government. Hence we are talking about Democrary 2.0

We need such reforms, that when implemented properly, will encourage only honest people to contest the elections and there will be absolutely no need of 49-O on the ground level. Till that time comes, we may need the better implementation of 49-O to keep the criminals away from government.

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REFERENCES:

Official reference:
I'd really like to provide you the official document link http://eci.nic.in/ElectoralLaws/HandBooks/MANUAL_OF_LAW_VOL_II.pdf but unfortunately, this takes ages to download the document

Meanwhile, you may refer these :
http://www.49-o.info/
http://49-o.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49-O