Informist, Friday, Apr 26, 2024

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court today issued a notice to the Election Commission of India on a public interest litigation seeking directions to frame rules that if the option of 'None of the Above'

category gets maximum votes, then the polls held in that particular constituency shall be declared null and void and fresh election shall be conducted.

"We will issue notice. This is about the electoral process also. Let us see what election commission has to say on this," said the Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud. In 2013, the option of None of the Above was introduced in the electronic voting machines following a direction from the apex court.

This option allows the voter to reject all candidates as unsatisfactory. However, there is no consequence if None of the Above option is in majority as the next candidate is declared the winner.

The plea filed by Shiv Khera, a motivational speaker and author, sought a direction that the candidates who lost to the None of the Above option should be barred from contesting the bye-election to be held thereafter in the constituency. The petition said that there should be a proper publicity for NOTA option as a "fictional candidate" and sought directions to the poll panel to frame appropriate rules for this.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan cited the recent case where in Surat constituency, a Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha candidate Mukesh Dalal was declared the winner without any election as the nomination of the Congress candidate got rejected and other candidates withdrew their nominations. Even if there is one candidate, there should be an election as the voter should have the option to vote for None of the Above category, said Sankaranarayanan. End

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

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