The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) calling for repolling in constituencies where the majority of votes cast are for the option “None of the Above” (NOTA).
A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud remarked, “This pertains to the electoral process as well. Let’s hear from the Election Commission on this.”
The bench, including Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, requested a response from the EC without specifying a deadline for addressing the issue.
This action stemmed from a PIL filed by motivational speaker and author Shiv Khera.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan, representing Khera, emphasized the significance of the matter, citing the recent example of the Surat Parliamentary seat, where the BJP candidate was uncontested.
“In Surat, there were no other candidates. All votes would have gone to a single candidate,” Sankaranarayan noted.
The petition urged the court to instruct the EC to treat NOTA as a “fictional electoral candidate” and to establish guidelines stating that if NOTA receives the highest number of votes, the election should be nullified, necessitating a fresh election.
The inclusion of NOTA in the electoral process across all levels—Parliament, assemblies, and local bodies—dates back to 2013.
The petitioner had previously approached the EC twice to designate NOTA as a “fictional candidate” at the national level.
Advocate Shweta Mazumdar, in the petition, highlighted that Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi, and Puducherry have adopted rules treating NOTA as a fictional candidate in local body polls.
According to the rules in these states/UT, “If in any election, all contesting candidates individually receive fewer votes than the ‘fictional electoral candidate’ (NOTA), then none of the contesting candidates will be declared elected, and a mandatory repoll will be conducted.”
The petition urged the EC to formulate regulations stating that if NOTA secures a majority, the election in that constituency should be invalidated, prompting a fresh election.
Furthermore, Khera demanded that the EC ensure sufficient publicity for NOTA as a fictional candidate and proposed that candidates receiving fewer votes than NOTA be barred from contesting elections for a period of five years.
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