High Court asks SEC to file affidavit about steps taken to advertise NOTA

Ahmedabad

The Gujarat High Court today ordered the state election commission (SEC) to file an affidavit before it explaining what steps it has taken so far to educate and aware the electorates of the state with regard to the None of The Above (NOTA) option for the upcoming local body polls slated to be held on November 22 and 29.

The court of Justice C L Soni today issued notice to the SEC on a petition filed by advocate K R Koshti which sought to know the status of the compliance of the October 30 order of the high court allowing the NOTA option for the local polls on a civil appeal filed by him. ‘The Commission has not done enough to educate and aware people about the availability of the NOTA option. It should be properly advertised on the radio, tv channels, newspapers and other media,’ Mr Koshti in his petition today said.

The matter is likely to be heard further tomorrow.

Earlier on October 30 the high court on a civil appeal petition of Mr. Koshti had directed the SEC to allow the NOTA option. The same court had earlier in August this year struck down the state government’s move to make voting compulsory in the local body polls. The SEC, putting forward the argument did not allow NOTA for the polls in its notification while announcing it on October 23. On the occasion SEC commissioner Varesh Sinha had said that NOTA being a part of compulsory voting regime won’t be available during the polls owing to the earlier ban of the High Court.
Mr. Koshti had challenged it demanding the modification of the notification with inclusion of the NOTA option for the voters.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Jayant Patel and Justice N V Anjaria had accepted the appeal and directed the SEC to make NOTA option available for the voters during the polls. The SEC issued a modified notification accordingly.
Mr. Koshti now contends that no appropriate steps are being taken by the commission to make people aware and educated about the availability of the NOTA options.
The local elections in six Municipal Corporations of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Surat and Rajkot would take place on November 22 while those for 31 district panchayats, 230 taluka panchayats, 56 municipalities would be held on November 29. The counting of votes would be held on December 2.

– DeshGujarat