The Freethought Party of India (FPI) has demanded a total abolition of the NOTA (No One from the Above) system that has wasted 1.3 per cent of votes in Rajasthan, 1.5 per cent of votes in MP, 2.1 per cent of votes in Chhattisgarh, 1.1 per cent of votes in Telengana and 0.5 per cent of votes in Mizoram and full length introduction of the German brand of Mixed Proportional Representation (PR) system of election.
It pointed out that in a representative democracy each vote cast should be equally weighed. No vote should be wasted. Each political party should have “representation” as per the percentage of votes that it has obtained from the voters. A voter has to choose according to his liking the best among the existing candidates. He should not waste his vote over NOTA.
It said both the Congress and the BJP polled 78.1per cent of the votes and they captured more than 172 seats in the Rajasthan Assembly of 199. The two parties captured 86.4 per cent seats. “This is a case of gross political injustice to other political parties and the whole lot of Independents. In MP, the BSP got 5 per cent of the votes cast. But it got only 2 seats. Had there been the PR system, the BSP could have got 11 seats, not 2 seats,” it said.
The Independent candidates got 9.5 per cent of votes and they should have got at least 19 seats instead of only 4 in Rajasthan. Same is the case in other States like MP, Chhattisgarh, Telengana and Mizoram. In the State of Telangana the TRS got 88 seats against 46.9 per cent votes. The party has been hugely over-represented in Telengana Assembly of 119 members. If there was PR system of South Africa model, the party would have got only 55 seats. But it has got 33 seats in excess of its lawful claim. The Congress led by Rahul Gandhi has suffered a lot in Telangana because of the FPTP system of election. It should have got 34 seats as it has polled 28.4 per cent of votes. But it got only 19 seats, 15 seats less than its legitimate share. The same instance of under-representation for the Congress has also happened in Mizoram. So is the case for the BJP in the States of Telangana and Mizoram, the FPI said.
The party also opined that the elections to the five State Assemblies should have been conducted on a single day and counting of votes should have been done soon after the voting was over as it is the practice in countries like Germany, the USA, the UK and Canada. Expenditure on the conduct of elections should also have been very less.
FPI general secretary B Ramchandra CST Voltaire said the NOTA option is neither ethically nor legally tenable.