Supreme Court Issues Notice To EC On Plea Seeking Re-Election Where NOTA Gets Majority: Reports

The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Election Commission in response to a petition requesting guidelines for re-election in constituencies where the 'None of the Above' option receives a majority, on Friday, as per media reports.

The petition was filed by motivational speaker Shiv Khera as the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in Surat emerged as the sole contender, after Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani was disqualified due to irregularities in his nomination papers. Several independent candidates also withdrew their nominations, Live Law reported.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud issued a notice to the Election Commission of India on Khera's plea seeking direction to frame rules to the effect that if NOTA gets a majority, the election held in the particular constituency shall be declared null and void, and a fresh election shall be conducted for the constituency, according to Live Law report.

NOTA was integrated into Indian electronic voting machines in 2013, as per a Supreme Court directive in the case of People’s Union for Civil Liberties vs Union of India. Its purpose is to enable voters to register their dissent against the available candidates.

However, current laws specify that NOTA votes do not directly influence the outcome. Instead, the candidate with the next highest number of votes is declared the winner, even if NOTA leads in the tally.

In his plea, Khera also advocated for the establishment of rules stating that candidates who receive fewer votes than NOTA should be barred from contesting any elections for a period of five years. Additionally, he urged for proper and effective promotion of NOTA as a 'Fictional Candidate', according to ANI report.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankarnarayan, representing Khera, briefed the Supreme Court about the prevailing situation in the Surat Lok Sabha election. He highlighted that in Surat, with no other candidates in the running, all votes were directed towards a single candidate, ANI and Live Law reported.

The petition further emphasised that since its introduction in 2013, the implementation of NOTA has failed to achieve its intended purpose, ANI report said.

Khera further said that the intention of bringing NOTA by the top court was with expectations that NOTA will increase voter participation in the elections, but the same doesn't seem to have been achieved, the news agency added.