Plea demands EC to nullify election results if NOTA gets maximum votes

March 15: The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the government and the Election Commission in response to a petition asking the court to order the poll panel to nullify an election result and hold a new election if the majority of votes in a constituency are cast for None of The Above (NOTA).

A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued notices to the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Election Commission of India while seeking their replies on the plea. Senior advocate Maneka Guruswamy was appearing for the petitioner and argued that there is a “right to reject”. “We are asking for that right to be recognised,” said the petitioner. The plea was filed by advocate and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.

“If these (directions) would be implemented, then the political parties would be forced to give tickets to honest and patriotic candidates. If candidates on whom the political parties spend crores of rupees are rejected, they would abstain from doing so,” the plea said.