Even though there has been a growing demand from various quarters for the "right not to vote," the former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami cautioned on Tuesday that negative voting was not a right option. "There is already a provision in the law to opt for 49 form (O) but there is no button for it (on EVM). But we should not overemphasise this negative voting," he said at a function organised by the Indian Women's Press Corps. "The purpose is to chose a person and it should not be taken to an extreme where everybody decides nobody is fit. If we press the button,it would be a extreme view," he added. The former CEC was also of the view that the Commission should have a power to deregister political parties which are either inactive or not participated in the election process. "We are registering at least three parties a week but we have no power to deregister them. There are too many political parties. Seven national parties 49 state parties and over 900 small parties. But we do not have the power to recognise such political parties that have remained inactive or not participated in the elections," Gopalaswami said. Gopalaswami indicated that for most of such political parties,the sole purpose was to carry out their own "business" by raising funds,and getting donations with due authorisation of the government. The former CEC referred to an investigation conducted by the commission which found that there was no evidence of political activities by such parties,and money received by them was being utilised for investment in shares,real estate and ornament business.
