EC opts for a hollow 'no vote' system
The EC’s proposal to reinstate the no vote system aims at only stopping uncontested elections.
The good news is the Election Commission has sought to reinstate the "no vote" option on ballots in the upcoming elections. But the bad news is voters might not have the scope to exercise the option as the EC wants to limit the use of "no vote" provision for only constituencies with a single candidate.
In any contested election, voters will find no constituency having a single candidate. A single candidate in a constituency is possible only in an election boycotted by the other parties.
Take the example of the 2014 one-sided election. As the BNP and other opposition parties boycotted the polls, the Awami League managed uncontested elections in as many as 153 out of 300 constituencies.
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The EC's proposal to reinstate the no vote system aims at only stopping uncontested elections.
"There will be no 'no vote' everywhere; if there is a single candidate, there will be a 'no vote,' said Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah on Monday.
But the upcoming election to be held mid-February is set to become one of the most contested elections. Can we imagine any constituency having only one contesting candidate?
Reintroduction of the "no vote" provision, therefore, will carry little meaning in the next election.
The original provision introduced months before the 2008 parliamentary elections was meaningful. It offered voters' rights to say no to all candidates on the ballots if they didn't like any of them. Every ballot paper of every constituency had the option.
If the symbol for "none of the above candidates", known as the "no vote", in any constituency registered more than 50% of votes cast, the returning officer would cancel the results of that seat and a re-election would be held.
It was introduced aiming at putting pressure on political parties to nominate competent and clean candidates.
But it was scrapped by the Sheikh Hasina government in February 2009, in less than two months of the December election.
The system was introduced amid strong opposition by major political parties including the Awami League, thanks to the then chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda-led EC's bold stance. It stuck to its gun and argued that "casting 'no vote' is one of the democratic rights. It gives voters an additional 'choice' of rejecting the choice of the political parties."
With the introduction of the provision, Bangladesh was the first among the Saarc countries to empower its citizens with the right to say "no" – a right which would be widely lauded and defended by India's Supreme Court, asking their Election Commission in a landmark verdict in September 2013 to introduce "no vote" on ballots, which would be introduced in India's 2014 election.
The Indian EC had moved to introduce the "no vote" in 2009. But it could not proceed with the idea due to the political parties' opposition.
The Indian Supreme Court was of the opinion that negative voting would foster honesty and vibrancy in elections.
"Democracy is all about choice and the right of citizens to cast negative votes is of utmost significance. The right to vote and the right to say 'No' are both part of the basic right of voters," it observed.
The Indian SC also said: "For democracy to survive, it is essential that the best available men should be chosen…for proper governance of the country. This can be best achieved through men of high moral and ethical values who win the elections on a positive vote."
Thus the "no vote" option would indeed compel political parties to nominate sound candidates, it said. Not allowing a person to cast a negative vote would defeat the very freedom of expression and the right to liberty, said the Indian apex court.
More than a dozen countries such as France, Spain, Canada, Argentina and Greece now have "no vote" in their electoral system.
The demand for restoration of the "no vote" was raised repeatedly by civil society individuals during the EC's talks on electoral reforms before the 2014 and 2018 parliamentary elections.
But none of the ECs led by Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed and Nurul Huda bothered to take up the request. Cancellation of the caretaker government, meanwhile, buried the scope for holding free and fair elections.
After the fall of the Hasina regime, reforms have become the agenda of the day. But the current Election Commission has refrained from restoring the original provision of "no vote". What it proposed for only constituencies with a single candidate will not have much impact on the elections.
The then EC in 2008 faced strong opposition against introducing the system. But the current EC is facing no such opposition to introducing a meaningful "no vote" system. Yet the EC seems more concerned about only uncontested elections, not empowering voters with real powers to say "No" to the candidates in a constituency.
Interestingly, the EC unveiled the reform proposals on Monday coinciding with a Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) study that claims the percentage of undecided voters increased to over 48% from 38% since last October.
Another finding of the survey, titled "Public Opinion, Experiences, and Expectations, July 2025" which was released yesterday (11 August), is noteworthy as it has found that while public support for the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami has declined, the National Citizen Party (NCP) has seen a slight increase in popularity.
