Supreme Court refused to stay on NOTA issue

Gujarat, Aug 03: The Justice bench Supreme Court has 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 on Thursday.

A bench headed by justice Dipak Misra issued a notice to the Election Commission (EC) and sought its response within two weeks. He further said that the issue would be heard as a constitutional question whether NOTA would apply to the election of the council of states.

The court also raised the question of why it had not been challenged despite being in operation since 2014.

He added that NOTA has not been exercised in a single election till now.

The use of the NOTA in the Rajya Sabha elections was against to the 1951 Public Prosecution Act and the 1961 Act



The elections will be held on August 8 for three seats in Gujarat. The secret ballot system is not used in the elections to the elders. The voter MLAs will have to cast their ballot papers before their party polling agent.

The Congress opposed the implementation of the NOTA itself as well. Now, with the Supreme Court verdict, the NOTA will be implemented in the Rajya Sabha elections for the first time.

Amit Shah, Smriti Irani and Balwant Singh Rajput are contesting from the BJP and Sonia Advisor Ahmed Patel from Congress.

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 on the ballot paper for these elections.