Following a Supreme Court’s directive, the Election Commission has told all States/Union Territories that ‘NOTA’ option should not be printed in the ballot papers for elections to the council of States and State legislative councils.
“In pursuance of the judgement of the Supreme court, the NOTA option will no longer be applicable in Rajya Sabha elections and Legislative Council election,” the EC said in its order.
The EC further directed returning officers for elections to the council of States and State legislative councils with instructions that column for “NOTA” should not be printed on the ballot papers for these elections.
In August, the Supreme Court struck down the provision of NOTA in the Rajya Sabha polls. “The introduction of NOTA in indirect elections may on first glance tempt the intellect but on keen scrutiny, it falls to the ground, for it completely ignores the role of an elector in such an election and destroys democratic values,” ruled a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.
The EC had introduced NOTA option in Rajya Sabha polls in 2014, a year after the SC had ordered the commission to give the option to voters in direct polls to register their protest that none of the candidates in the fray were suitable to represent them in Lok Sabha or Assemblies.