The Supreme Court today ruled that the None of The Above (NOTA) option cannot be made applicable for voting in Rajya Sabha elections..The judgment was delivered by a Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud in a petition filed by Shailesh Manubhai Parmar, Chief Whip of the Indian National Congress in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly..The trigger for the petition was the decision of the Election Commission (EC) to use NOTA for Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat in 2017. The same was done by way of notifications issued by the EC and a circular passed by the Assembly..The petitioner had contended that the applicability of NOTA to the Rajya Sabha elections is in ex facie violation of the provisions of Article 80(4) of the Constitution, the Representation of People’s Act 1951, the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, and two decisions of the Supreme Court..It further stated that the EC cannot, by executive instructions/circulars, seek to override the express provisions of the Act and the Rules..NOTA was introduced in India after the Supreme Court’s judgement in PUCL v Union of India, dated September 27, 2013. Parmar had contended that a plain reading of the ruling, especially paragraphs 53 and 63, made it amply clear that NOTA was to be applied to direct and general elections and not indirect elections like that to the Rajya Sabha. In this type of election, there is open voting with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote as mandated by Article 80(4) of the Constitution..Moreover, in Kuldip Nayar v Union of India, a Constitution Bench of five judges held that in Rajya Sabha elections, MLAs are duty bound to support the candidate put up by the political party to which they are affiliated. The Court in that case rested on proportional representation and the need to ensure party discipline as the rationale behind its decision..Interestingly, the Central government through Attorney General KK Venugopal had supported the stance of the petitioner arguing that the Election Commission cannot sanction the use of NOTA by way of mere circulars, thereby overriding the provisions of Article 80(4)..Read the judgment:
The Supreme Court today ruled that the None of The Above (NOTA) option cannot be made applicable for voting in Rajya Sabha elections..The judgment was delivered by a Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud in a petition filed by Shailesh Manubhai Parmar, Chief Whip of the Indian National Congress in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly..The trigger for the petition was the decision of the Election Commission (EC) to use NOTA for Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat in 2017. The same was done by way of notifications issued by the EC and a circular passed by the Assembly..The petitioner had contended that the applicability of NOTA to the Rajya Sabha elections is in ex facie violation of the provisions of Article 80(4) of the Constitution, the Representation of People’s Act 1951, the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, and two decisions of the Supreme Court..It further stated that the EC cannot, by executive instructions/circulars, seek to override the express provisions of the Act and the Rules..NOTA was introduced in India after the Supreme Court’s judgement in PUCL v Union of India, dated September 27, 2013. Parmar had contended that a plain reading of the ruling, especially paragraphs 53 and 63, made it amply clear that NOTA was to be applied to direct and general elections and not indirect elections like that to the Rajya Sabha. In this type of election, there is open voting with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote as mandated by Article 80(4) of the Constitution..Moreover, in Kuldip Nayar v Union of India, a Constitution Bench of five judges held that in Rajya Sabha elections, MLAs are duty bound to support the candidate put up by the political party to which they are affiliated. The Court in that case rested on proportional representation and the need to ensure party discipline as the rationale behind its decision..Interestingly, the Central government through Attorney General KK Venugopal had supported the stance of the petitioner arguing that the Election Commission cannot sanction the use of NOTA by way of mere circulars, thereby overriding the provisions of Article 80(4)..Read the judgment:
