Supreme Court refuses Congress plea to stay NOTA option in Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today refused to stay the exercise of NOTA (none of the above) option in the Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections scheduled to take place on 8 August.

Gujarat Congress counsel Kapil Sibal’s arguments:

-If the elections aren’t stayed, it will be a recipe for corruption.

– The Supreme Court ruling was restricted to direct elections, while this is a case of indirect election on proportional representative by means of single transferable vote. Both are entirely different.

-NOTA has not been exercised in a single(Rajya Sabha) election till now.

The court’s stand:

– A bench was headed by justice Dipak Misra.

– Why NOTA in Rajya Sabha polls had not been challenged despite being in operation since 2014.

– Notice to the Election Commission seeking its response within two weeks.

– The issue would be heard as a constitutional question—whether NOTA would apply to election of council of states.

About the plea:

The court was hearing a plea by the Gujarat Congress against using the option of NOTA in the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat.

The matter was sought to be given an urgent hearing on the grounds that there was no statutory provision for the NOTA option in the ballot paper for these elections.

While the Congress party has approached the apex court on the issue, the BJP has asked the Election Commission (EC) for the withdrawal of the NOTA option from the 8 August elections.

Election Commission’s stand:

NOTA is following the Supreme Court order in 2013 which said that the NOTA option should be provided on ballot papers and electronic voting machines.

Read Election Commission note on this issue.

Author’s note:

– One point mentioned by Congress counsel Kapil Sibal sounds wrong. NOTA was exercised by Congress MLA Daggubati, husband of then union minister in Andhra Pradesh Rajya Sabha polls in early 2014. Secondly, Kapil Sibal himself contested Rajya Sabha polls last year and NOTA was there. He had not objected it so as any other political party.