The Supreme Court on April 26 asked for a response from the Election Commission of India on a PIL seeking framing of rules to nullify an election and order fresh one if NOTA (none of the above) option gets majority over other candidates.
- The apex court issued notice to the Election Commission on the PIL filed by author, activist and motivational speaker Shiv Khera.
- The NOTA option is provided to the voters in the elections in pursuance of the 2013 apex court verdict.
- The PIL also sought a direction to the poll panel to frame rules stating that the candidates who poll fewer votes than NOTA shall stand debarred from contesting all elections for a period of five years.
About NOTA (none of the above)
- On September 27, 2013, the Supreme Court of India in People’s Union for Civil Liberties case, declared that voters should have the option to select “none of the above” when casting their ballots, and it mandated that the Election Commission install a button for this option in all electronic voting machines.
- The Election Commission and various State Election Commissions had introduced NOTA in electronic voting machines (EVMs) in November 2013.
- In contrast to a negative vote, Nota is neutral and has no numerical value. It is ultimately discounted towards the final total.
- Currently, the candidate who receives the second-highest number of votes is declared the winner if Nota garners the most votes in a constituency.
- The Nota button is at the bottom of the list of candidates on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
- From 2018 onwards, several States like Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi and Puducherry began to treat NOTA as a “fictional electoral candidate” while declaring poll results.
- NOTA has not been a popular option in Indian elections. In the 2019 LS elections, NOTA garnered a meagre 1.06% of votes, lower than 1.08% in the 2014 polls.
