Sir — A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking amendments to the rules regarding the ‘None of the above’ or Nota option in polls (“Just a button”, March 22). It proposed not only fresh elections if the Nota option receives more votes than a candidate but also that the candidates rejected by voters should not be fielded again in the fresh elections. But it must be remembered that Nota votes are usually cast by the electorate to express dissatisfaction with the political parties to which the candidates belong rather than against the candidates themselves.

One seldom comes across instances where candidates of established political parties receive lesser number of votes than Nota. However, there are exceptions. In the 2017 bypolls in the R.K. Nagar constituency in Chennai, 2,373 Nota votes were cast. This far exceeded the 1,417 votes received by the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, K. Nagarajan. But even in this case, it is likely that this was a vote against the BJP, which had and continues to draw the ire of the people of Tamil Nadu, and not against Nagarajan in particular, who was incidentally the party’s candidate.

Under the circumstances, it would be better if the Election Commission maintained status quo as far as the Nota rules are concerned. It is surprising that the Supreme Court did not dismiss the petition at the admission stage itself.

Tharcius S. Fernando,
Chennai

Sir — The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Election Commission and the Centre to respond to a PIL demanding re-election if the number of Nota votes exceeds the number of votes cast in favour of the leading candidate in a constituency. If this is accepted, Nota would become a decisive factor in the polls. As such, it would be ironic for it to appear at the end of the list of candidates on electronic voting machines. Nota should be treated just like other candidates in the fray, and be placed in alphabetical order alongside them. In such a case, Nota would have to be renamed; instead of ‘None of the above’, the option should be changed to ‘None of the above or below’.

Tapan Kumar Mukherjee,
Burdwan

Sir — If people cast more Nota votes than those for a candidate, it means that voters are seriously dissatisfied with the running candidates of all parties. So the Election Commission and the Centre would do well to introspect as to why a candidate who comes second should be awarded the responsibility of the constituency. Nota was brought into the electoral system with a purpose and that same purpose is defeated if its verdict is not honoured.

Bal Govind,
Noida

New fight

Sir — India is witnessing a second wave of coronavirus infections, which threatens to overturn the progress the country has made in containing the pandemic. Although the Centre has taken a number of initiatives in the fight against the virus for a year now, the fact remains that governments cutting across the political spectrum in India hardly considered it a priority to buttress defences against contagious diseases.

While measures were taken to contain specific diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, there was little investment in public health infrastructure. The costs of such quiescence were already high even before the novel coronavirus landed on our shores. If a wrong public health strategy is one reason for India’s vulnerability in healthcare management, the lack of resources is another. Even the Health Management Information System, which was supposed to plug some of the data gaps, has been found wanting. Once this pandemic retreats and people’s lives get back to normal, will India seriously consider devising measures to promote a strategy of ‘health for all’? Our response to future pandemics will depend on the answer to this question.

Ranganathan Sivakumar,
Chennai

Sir — It is not the responsibility of the government alone to fight against the coronavirus. Even though a second wave hits parts of the country, people in other states seem nonchalant about it. This is a shame.

Ranjana Pal,
Howrah

Go green

Sir — This year, on the international forest day, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation tweeted that 2,21,405 trees have been planted in Mumbai so far. This is a great response to a study published at the end of last year, which identified a 42 per cent decline in the forest cover of the city. Later, the Maharashtra government also announced a target of planting four crore saplings in the state before the arrival of monsoon. Taking such steady steps to protect the environment is indeed laudable. Citizens of poll-bound states should demand similar action from political parties seeking their votes.

Mohit Verma,
Calcutta