No NOTA in Rajya Sabha elections, rules Supreme Court
What's the story
The Supreme Court has ruled the option of "none of the above" (NOTA) cannot be permitted in Rajya Sabha elections. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud set aside Election Commission's notification allowing NOTA option in ballot papers for RS polls. The court earlier said by introducing NOTA, the EC was legitimizing the act of not voting.
Details
SC's verdict came on Gujarat Congress leader's plea
The apex court today has questioned the Election Commission's notification allowing NOTA for RS polls, saying that NOTA was meant to be exercised by individual voters in direct elections. The verdict came on a plea of Shailesh Manubhai Parmar, who was Congress's chief whip in the Gujarat Assembly during the last Rajya Sabha polls, in which the party had fielded sitting MP Ahmed Patel.
NOTA option
NOTA would encourage 'horse-trading and corruption', says Parmar
Parmar challenged the EC's notification allowing NOTA, alleging that if the provision was allowed in Rajya Sabha polls, it would encourage "horse-trading and corruption". The poll panel had said the NOTA option was first introduced in 2014 following an apex court verdict a year earlier and they (the Congress) did not have any objection in subsequent polls as it suited them.