“I opted not to vote as I am not convinced with none of the candidates”. But did this decision of my not voting really made any difference & stop the undeserving candidates from not being elected. NO IT DID NOT. Then I am looser as any how the uneducated & corrupts is going to be my leader.

We conscious & educated citizens of India need to realize that our votes matter. But we need not vote the undeserving. The choice need not always be with one undeserving candidate & the other. We can also go & vote none & say we want re-election with fresh new candidates. Its time we realizes we the CITIZEN’s of India are quite powerful & can deny the undeserving privileged people the responsible positions in our lives & rule us.

The Conduct of Elections Rules of India, 1961, Rule 49-O is a rule, which governs elections in the country. Although this is not our Constitutional right, the rule prescribes the procedure when a voter decides not to vote any of the candidates & record the fact. The apparent purpose of this section is to prevent the election fraud or the misuse of votes.

The rule reads as follows: “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.”

The ballot paper / Electronic voting machine (EVM) contains only the list of candidates, a voter cannot record his vote under Section 49-O directly maintaining the secrecy. Thus it violates the secrecy of the ballot paper, since he has to inform the presiding officer at the election booth. However, with paper ballot a different method is used to “waste” ones vote, which is stamping on multiple candidates. In fact this was the standard method of giving null votes without violating secrecy before the advent of the EVM. With EVM no such option of voting to multiple candidates can be done. Thereby one has to follow the procedure of approaching the preceding officer……

However, the Election Commission of India has proposed that the ballot paper or the EVM to have a column after all the names of the candidates representing “none of the above” to enable voter to reject all the candidates and maintain secrecy of the ballot as.

Russia allows voters to vote “against all” candidates.

It’s important for us to know & remember that “SECRECY” or “NO SECRECY”, we can VOTE TO NONE/AGAINST ALL CANDIDATES. As of for the time being, since such voting are very few in number, they are hardly ever considered, but I am sure if the informed citizens will start using it, such votes will be taken into consideration & we can demand for appropriate candidates instead of corrupted candidates. Every change has to be started some where, if this has not been done earlier at least now we can come together to voice our opposition for inappropriate people to be our leaders.

Working people many a times come across an issue that cannot be termed as harassment but is not less than harassment. It’s an act where in colleagues use foul or filthy language or tone or act to humiliate or establish their superiority. But reporting such cases to HR are most of the time becomes useless as very few companies have any policy to check such acts.

In some of the organizations, there is a policy, which I believe is quite a bit to help those people who are harassed by the harassing lots. The policy is called Corrective Action Policy (CAT).Cat is described as Discipline, in its literal sense, is action that corrects or improves. Its purpose in the workplace is to correct or improve job-related performance or behavior. This policy applies to Professional Staff and Support and Service Staff not covered by a union and who have completed the new-employee evaluation period.

The Policy is as follows:

1. Most workplace performance problems are handled by informal discussion and counseling between the supervisor and the employee. This Corrective Action policy is applied when more formal action is required.
2. It is the university’s policy and practice that discipline be progressive in nature, beginning with the least severe action necessary to correct the undesirable situation, and increasing in severity only if the condition is not corrected.
3. In addition to being progressive in nature, it is important that the degree of discipline be directly related to the seriousness of the offense and the employee’s record; therefore, it is possible for steps to be skipped or repeated.
4. Nothing in this policy is intended to alter the limitations described in the Problem or Grievance Resolution policy, about the types of discipline cases that can be appealed to Stage IV.

If corrective action fails to result in satisfactory progress, the employee may be considered for separation from employment. The Human Resources Office of Employee Relations (Employee Relations) shall review and approve the termination. The normal progression of corrective action incorporates a(n)

a. Oral warning,
b. Written Warning,
c. Probation,
d. Suspension, and/or
e. Termination from employment.

If an employee’s misconduct or job-related misconduct is severe and/or repetitive, a step or steps in the process may be skipped or combined. It is recommended that skipping or combining a step or steps be reviewed with Employee Relations.

Previous disciplinary actions

1. Generally, disciplinary action that is more than 12 months old is not used in considering, moving to the next level of discipline. Whereas any disciplinary action taken in between 12 months can be considered for the next step of action
   • For example if a disciplinary action occurs on 2/1/02 and a second one occurs on 10/1/02, both can be considered if a third, similar occurrence arises on 6/1/03.
2. The twelve-month time limit on the use of corrective action does not apply to any corrective actions which are severe in nature like the following offenses: theft, falsification of university records, sexual harassment, workplace violence, and other extremely serious offenses or other types of harassment prohibited by law.