Supreme Court Says No to NOTA Option in Rajya Sabha Polls

The Supreme Court today gave its judgment that there will be no NOTA (None of The Above) option while holding the Rajya Sabha elections. The respected court, especially the three-judge bench consisted of CJI Misra, justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, passed this judgmental that only the direct elections will be allowed to keep the NOTA option, but the indirect elections such as the Rajya Sabha polls cannot keep it as an option.

The Supreme Court made this judgment while hearing the petitions of Gujarat Congress leader Shailesh Manubhai Parmar. The court also made it clear that by not making NOTA an available option in the polls, it is legitimising the act of not voting.

Justice Chandrachud stated that “If he doesn’t vote, the party will expel him. But by making option of NOTA, you are legitimising his action.”

The petitioner Parmar had urged the Supreme Court not to allow the NOTA option in the Rajya Sabha polls by going against the Election Commission notification. Notably, the election common had allowed the NOTA option in ballot papers during the last Rajya Sabha polls. Parmar is of this opinion that the NOTA provision, if, was allowed in the Rajya Sabha polls, it would encourage “horse-trading and corruption”. Finally, his appeal prevails and the Centre came out in support of the petition.

On the contrary, the Election Commission, while defending the NOTA option for Rajya Sabha polls, states that a member has the right not to vote and not allowing him to do so would be against the conduct of election rules or unconstitutional. The Election Commission also pointed out that when the NOTA was first introduced in 2014 after an apex court verdict, the Congress had no objection in subsequent polls as it suited them.