The “None of the Above” (NOTA) option is available on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for voters who do not wish to support any political candidate. This allows them to exercise their right not to vote without revealing their decision.
Choosing NOTA signifies that the voter has decided not to back any particular party or candidate. If NOTA receives the highest number of votes in a constituency, the candidate with the second-highest number of votes is declared the winner.
Before NOTA was included in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), voters who wished to reject all candidates had to fill out Form 49-O at a voting booth. However, this process compromised the secrecy of the voter’s choice.
When was NOTA introduced?
In India, NOTA was introduced following a Supreme Court judgment on September 27, 2013. It aimed to discourage political parties from fielding tainted candidates.
“Negative voting will lead to a systemic change in polls and political parties will be forced to project clean candidates. 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 the Constitution,” said a bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam said while delivering the verdict.
The bench also noted that the system of negative voting exists in several other countries. Even in Parliament, MPs have the option to abstain from voting.
The court’s ruling mandated the Election Commission of India (ECI) to include a NOTA button on all electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Following the order, the election body then introduced a NOTA symbol, designed by the National Institute of Design (NID) Ahmedabad, which appears in the last panel on all EVMs.
When was NOTA First Used in India?
The NOTA option was first used in the Assembly elections held in four states — Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh — and the Union Territory of Delhi in 2013. More than 15 lakh people exercised this option in the state polls, with 3.56 lakh in Chhattisgarh, 5.9 lakh in Madhya Pradesh, and 5.67 lakh in Rajasthan.
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