Plea in Supreme Court asks for fresh elections when NOTA gets maximum votes, cites unopposed BJP victory in Surat

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a petition seeking fresh elections in areas where the largest number of people opt for the ‘None Of The Above’ (NOTA) option. (Shiv Khera v Union of India)

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud as well as judges JB Pardiwala And Manoj Misra notice issued after senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan said that in the Surat Lok Sabha constituency there was only one candidate who was elected unopposed.

“We will put out a message. This is also about the electoral process. Let’s see what the Election Commission has to say about this,” the CJI said.

Mukesh Dalal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was declared winner of the Surat Lok Sabha constituency elections on April 22, well ahead of the scheduled elections on May 7.

This happened after the withdrawal of seven candidates and the rejection of the affidavit of the Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani.

The plea before the Supreme Court by one Shiv Khera is taken from the 170th report of the Law Commission of India on ‘Reform of the Electoral Laws’, dated May 29, 1999.

In this report, the Law Commission recommended an alternative method of election whereby no candidate should be declared elected unless he obtains at least 50% of the votes cast.

In addition, the Commission has proposed the introduction of a ‘negative vote’ option for voters who were not inclined to choose either candidate.

According to the recommendation, even negative votes would be counted as ‘votes cast’ for the purpose of calculating the 50% threshold.

In the event that no candidate receives 50% or more of the votes cast in the second round, new elections should be held from that constituency, it was proposed.

The plea further emphasized that in the elections to urban local bodies of various states and Union Territories, the NOTA option will be treated as a ‘notional election candidate’ and fresh elections will be held if majority of the voters opt for NOTA.

Since the petitioner’s submission to the ECI seeking introduction of NOTA as a fictitious candidate at the national level remained unanswered, he approached the Supreme Court.