219 exercised negative democratic right in polls

KOCHI: The politically alive state for the first time had 219 voters who outrightly rejected the candidates in their respective Assembly constituencies by exercising the 49O option in the just concluded polls.The voters were given the choice to exercise 49O option by the Election Commission of India (ECI) at all the polling booths in the state. "In many places, the voters who were aware of such an option came forward to utilise it and the presiding officers guided them through the formalities," said Joint Chief Electoral Officer (Jt CEO) S Sisupalan.Rule 49O of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, is the right of a voter not to vote for any of the contesting candidates in their respective constituencies.Sisupalan said that 219 voters had opted for the 49O option in the Assembly polls with Trikaripur Assembly constituency in Kasargod district registering the maximum of 20."We have directed the polling officials not to discourage people who want to use 49O option. The polling officials have been properly briefed about the option which could be utilised by the voter if he or she is not interested in casting the vote. But the people are not aware of this option. In the majority of the constituencies, people have not opted for this option," he said. The other constituencies that registered maximum number of 49O option were Perumbavoor (12), Piravom (11), Vamanapuram (11) and Kanhangad (10).The officials said that the voters had used this particular option to register their displeasure over the candidates contesting in the respective constituencies.