Nilgiri Lok Sabha Elections - NOTA option
There is understandable excitement among voters in the Nilgiris over the ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option that the Election Commission has granted under the Supreme Court’s directive, which allows voters to reject all candidates in the constituency, if not satisfied with their credentials.
The sitting MP has been re-nominated by his party for the 2014 polls. Nothing wrong with that, except that he is a non-resident and has been charged with criminal offence.
Nilgiris has mostly fielded local MPs in Parliament, not in the least, stalwarts like (late) Smt Akkama Devi and Shri Master Mathan but it took a political masterstroke by the government of the day (2007) to de-notify the Nilgiris as a Reserved Constituency, some say, in a clever move to eliminate local competition. Those engaged in development work among lesser known Nilgiri tribal folk, particularly NGOs, were ecstatic at the prospect of reserved status. Not anymore. ‘I think we were wrong in our assessment. As much as the person, the party matters too,’ said a social worker, unwilling to be named. At a time when the ruling coalition at the Centre was riding high on its second term, the local MP too was riding, like a Raja, on equally high waves, the telecom airwaves.
What development he brought to the district during his tenure, (soon to be cut short) is there to see. He did manage to promote ‘Nilgiri’ and ‘scam’, on the same plane, globally, but it didn’t even aid local tourism.
Today, with almost all the political parties coming under the common minimum scam umbrella, the electorate lacks a better choice, but has a new option - the last button on the voting machine - NOTA.
Even if NOTA wins, it can’t make it to Parliament House. The one with the second highest votes will make it, albeit ego-shattered.
The sitting MP has been re-nominated by his party for the 2014 polls. Nothing wrong with that, except that he is a non-resident and has been charged with criminal offence.
Nilgiris has mostly fielded local MPs in Parliament, not in the least, stalwarts like (late) Smt Akkama Devi and Shri Master Mathan but it took a political masterstroke by the government of the day (2007) to de-notify the Nilgiris as a Reserved Constituency, some say, in a clever move to eliminate local competition. Those engaged in development work among lesser known Nilgiri tribal folk, particularly NGOs, were ecstatic at the prospect of reserved status. Not anymore. ‘I think we were wrong in our assessment. As much as the person, the party matters too,’ said a social worker, unwilling to be named. At a time when the ruling coalition at the Centre was riding high on its second term, the local MP too was riding, like a Raja, on equally high waves, the telecom airwaves.
What development he brought to the district during his tenure, (soon to be cut short) is there to see. He did manage to promote ‘Nilgiri’ and ‘scam’, on the same plane, globally, but it didn’t even aid local tourism.
Today, with almost all the political parties coming under the common minimum scam umbrella, the electorate lacks a better choice, but has a new option - the last button on the voting machine - NOTA.
Even if NOTA wins, it can’t make it to Parliament House. The one with the second highest votes will make it, albeit ego-shattered.