Is abstaining from Voting Legal?
The United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) is firm on abstaining from voting in the July 19 Presidential election and has decided to put up its own candidate for the office of the Vice-President “to maintain its identity.”
The alliance will seek the support of the Left parties for their Vice Presidential nominee or go along with them only on the condition that they withdraw their support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre.
It will, however, maintain distance from the UPA and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Vice Presidential elections as well.
The former Election Commissioner, Mr G V G Krishnamurthy, had recently made the point that no political party could ask its members to abstain or to not exercise their second preference vote in the election since, he held, it could be tantamount to violation of the spirit of democracy and could even lead to that party’s de-registration by the EC under extreme circumstances. Miss Jayalalithaa, however, while declaring the UNPA’s decision to abstain from the 19 July polling said there were no such legal bar on such a move. The Union parliamentary affairs minister and Mrs Patil’s principal pointsman, Mr Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, had also dismissed Mr Krishnamurthy’s views as legally unfounded.
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