SC Issues Notice To EC On Plea Seeking Cancellation Of Election If NOTA Gets Majority

The plea also sought that proper and efficient reporting/publicity be done of NOTA as a “Fictional Candidate”. 

The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Election Commission of India on a plea seeking to frame rules in cases where, if NOTA gets a majority, the election held in the particular constituency shall be declared null and void and a fresh election shall be conducted in that constituency, reported ANI.

The plea also sought the frame rules stating that the candidate who receive fewer votes that NOTA shall stand debarred from contesting all elections for a period of 5 years. The petitioner also sought a proper and efficient reporting/publicity of NOTA as a “Fictional Candidate”. 

Earlier in the day, a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court threw out pleas challenging the cross verification of votes cast on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).  

In a unanimous judgment by the bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, the court junked the pleas that sought the reversal of the poll panel's 2017 decision to replace the transparent glass on VVPAT machines with an opaque glass through which a voter can see the slip only when the light is on for seven seconds.

The top court directed the Election Commission of India to seal symbol loading units for 45 days after symbols loaded to EVMs. 

Delivering the judgment, the court said, "Democracy is about striving to build harmony and blindly distrusting poll process can lead to unwarranted suspicion."

The top court had reserved its verdict in the matter on Wednesday after seeking clarification from the poll body on whether the microcontrollers installed in EVMs are reprogrammable.