NOTA

‘None of The Above’ (NOTA) option in the Indian electoral system was introduced in India following the 2013 Supreme Court directive in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India judgment.
The Supreme Court held that “If the right to vote is a statutory right, then the right to reject a candidate is a fundamental right of speech and expression under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution.”
The NOTA option was first used in the Assembly elections held in four states — Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and the Union Territory, Delhi in 2013.
NOTA is the option which enables the voter to officially register a vote of rejection for all candidates who are contesting. If a voter chooses to press NOTA it indicates that the voter has not chosen to vote for any of the parties.

The EVMs have the NOTA option at the end of the candidates’ list.
Earlier, in order to cast a negative ballot by filing Form 49-O, a voter had to inform the presiding officer at the polling booth. But this compromised the secrecy of the ballot.
A NOTA vote doesn’t require the involvement of the presiding officer.

The NOTA option on EVMs has no electoral value. Even if the maximum number of votes cast is for NOTA, the candidate getting the most of the remaining votes would be declared winner.
In other words, the existence of NOTA has been seen just as a “symbolic instrument to express resentment” against all the contesting candidates or the political system in general.
However, attempts have been made recently, albeit at the local level, to expand the scope of NOTA.

In November 2018, the Maharashtra State Election Commission announced that if NOTA garners the most number of votes in a panchayat or municipality election, then none of the candidates in the fray would be declared elected, and instead a re-election would take place.
In the same year, the Haryana State Election Commissioner inserted provisions in the law to bar the candidates—those who got less votes than NOTA—from contesting the follow-up elections.
However, for Assembly and general elections – which are governed by the Election Commission of India – the scope of NOTA remains limited.
Now, for the NOTA option to be given some “electoral value” in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, amendments will need to be made to Rule 64 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

In 2018, the Election Commission withdrew the NOTA option from ballot papers of the Rajya Sabha and the Legislative Council polls following a Supreme Court directive.
The apex court held that the NOTA option is meant only for universal adult suffrage and direct elections and not polls held by the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote as done in the Rajya Sabha.

An advocate has moved the Supreme Court for a direction that fresh elections should be held in a constituency where NOTA garnered the maximum number of votes. In such a situation, the contesting candidates should be considered as rejected and not be allowed in the fresh election.
The plea contends that Right to reject and elect a new candidate will give power to the people to express their discontent. If voters are dissatisfied with the background of the contesting candidate, they will opt NOTA to reject such candidate and elect a new candidate.

The ‘Right to Reject’ was first proposed by the Law Commission in 1999. It also suggested that the candidates be declared elected only if they have obtained 50%+1 of the valid votes cast.
Similarly, the Election Commission endorsed ‘Right to Reject’, first in 2001, and then in 2004 in its Proposed Electoral Reforms.
The ‘Background Paper on Electoral Reforms’, prepared by the Ministry of Law in 2010, had proposed that if a certain percentage of the vote was negative, then the election result should be nullified and a new election held.

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