Local body elections without 'NOTA'; 'End' button to be introduced in three-tier panchayat raj

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There will be no 'NOTA' button on the voting machine in the upcoming local body elections. This is replaced with an end button. That too, only for elections to district, village and block panchayats. There is no such facility in the municipality and corporation elections. People with no interest in any candidates used to press the NOTA button on the voting machine to express their disagreement. The 'end' button works in a similar way.

In a three-tier panchayat (district, block, village), if you want to vote only for a candidate at any one level and skip the others, you can do that by pressing the end button. If you want to vote only for a district panchayat candidate, you can do that and press the end button. The same method is used for the other two levels.

If you vote only at one level and do not press the end button, the polling officer will press the button and set the machine. 'NOTA' (None of the Above) facility is available in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. In the last Lok Sabha elections, NOTA received 1,58,376 votes in the state, that is 0.7 per cent of the total votes. The highest was in Alathur- 12,033.

NOTA is not included in the local elections conducted under the Panchayati Raj and Municipality Act. If it is desired, the laws and related regulations must be amended. The Supreme Court ordered the inclusion of 'NOTA' in the voting machines in 2013. NOTA was first introduced in Kerala in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.