Rule 49-O is a rule in The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 of India.
RULE 49-0
49-O. Elector deciding not to vote.-If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.
MYTH & TRUTH BEHIND
It is widely beleived that if negative vote exceeds the margin of votes secured by the winning candidate over the runner up, this will invalidate the election and a repoll will be held. It is clarified that in such cases, the voters who exercise the option of not voting at the election under Rule 49-O would only be deemed to have abstained themselves from voting and under the law, the candidate who secures highest number of valid votes polled, irrespective of his winning margin, is declared elected without any repolling.
It is the duty of every citizen to educate himself / herself about the agenda of the candidates and to vote conscientiously for the candidate they think is better.Encouraging people not to express their preferred candidate goes against the intended purpose of conducting elections.Also, annulling an election would result in much waste of public funds spent to conduct polls.
So fellow citizens donot get misleaded by wrong emails,sms etc.,spread more awareness among fellow citizens. Lets pledge to vote for a better INDIA.
