By directing the government to provide for a “none of the above” button on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the forthcoming state and general elections, the supreme court on Friday gave the power of choice to the citizen.

In India, voting is seen as the litmus test of the election process where voters make a choice of one candidate/party over the other. This litmus test however fails to acknowledge the present scenario, which has little difference between political parties' agendas. As a result, citizens have to, in order to vote, choose between the devil and the deep sea. At present, BJP's Narendra Modi is pitched as an “alternative” to Congress's Rahul Gandhi, with people arguing that if you have to oust Congress your only “choice” is Modi.

No longer. Now citizens can express their displeasure with party agendas, candidates and hail their indecision with the 'none of the above' button on the EVM. It will all be very simple, clean and be done in a matter of seconds. The rule comes with a condition that if the number of 'none of the above' votes exceeds the number of votes casted for the winning candidates, elections would be held again.

The button on the EVM is a new and welcome development, though the Constitution has always given the voter a right to express her/his displeasure with the candidates put up through section 49(O) of Representation of People's Act (RP Act). This means a voter, who does not want to vote for any of the candidates in fray, has to fill a form – form 17(A) – which is equivalent to casting a 'none of the above' vote.

Form 17(A), however, is seen to violate the confidentiality clause of elections as voters had to provide their full details, including name and address, to the election officer. The awareness for 49(O) was low and no one is sure if 17(A) forms ever reached the desired destination.

'Right to Reject' has given a lot of indecisive voters, especially those in the middle and upper middle classes, a reason to come to the polling booth. Most people in this socio-economic category blamed the lack of choice of candidates for their lack of enthusiasm in voting. Now they can express their displeasure with the system by telling it that none of the ones available are fit to be voted for.

The right also makes Indian democracy more nuanced by giving a whole range of choices to the people, including the choice to say 'no'.

It is too early to say what the political parties will do to counter this decision. Will they improvise their functioning or try to scuttle this move is yet to be seen. Scuttling might not speak much in their favour as any untoward action by any party would be quickly picked up by the media. Votes in any party's kitty also include a number of 'deflected' votes which come to it, again due to lack of choice in the candidate list.

Such deflected votes will hopefully now make it to the last option of the EVM.