SC seeks ECI response on plea for repoll in seats with maximum NOTA votes

Guwahati, April 26: The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking new elections in places where majority votes were for "None of the Above" (NOTA).

The bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, asked the ECI for their response without setting a specific date.

NOTA was added to Electronic Voting Machines in 2013 after a Supreme Court direction in a PIL filed by the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). It allows voters to reject all candidates if they're not satisfied. However, currently, if NOTA gets majority votes, the next candidate is declared the winner.

According to reports, the PIL filed by motivational speaker Shiv Khera stressed on framing of rules to the effect that if NOTA gets a majority, the election held in the particular constituency be declared null and void and a fresh election be conducted.

It also sought rules to be framed that the candidates who receive fewer votes than NOTA shall stand debarred from contesting all elections for a period of five years.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan, representing Khera, emphasised the importance of the issue, citing the recent example of a Parliamentary seat in Surat where the BJP candidate won uncontested. The petition asks the court to declare NOTA as a "fictional electoral candidate" and to set guidelines for holding fresh elections if NOTA gets the most votes.