Delhi: If NOTA gets maximum votes then voting will be held again, candidate will be banned

The Supreme Court has rejected the petition demanding that after voting through EVMs in elections, every vote should be taken from VVPAT slip. Meanwhile, another petition has reached the Supreme Court. In that petition, it has been demanded that if NOTA (none of these) gets the maximum votes on any seat, then the election should be canceled and re-election should be held on that seat. The petition also demands that all candidates who get less votes than NOTA should be barred from contesting elections for five years. Hearing the petition, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, 'Since the matter is related to the election process, it remains to be seen what is the reaction of the Election Commission.' The Supreme Court has also sent a notice to the Election Commission seeking its reply. Motivational speaker and writer Shiv Kheda has filed a PIL. Advocate Gopal Shankaranarayan, appearing in the court on behalf of Shiv Kheda, gave the example of the BJP candidate being elected unopposed from the Surat Lok Sabha seat and said that there was only one candidate left in the field. The lawyer said that the Election Commission should also declare NOTA as a candidate.

Application after two rounds of voting

An application has been filed in Surat regarding the victory of BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal unopposed on 22 April. Here the nomination papers of Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani were canceled. There was confusion regarding the names and signatures of witnesses in his nomination papers. There were 10 candidates in the fray for this seat. On 21 April, 7 independent candidates withdrew their candidature.

In other states this is the rule: Applicant

It has been said in the petition that since the implementation of NOTA started in the year 2013, there has been a demand to declare NOTA as a fake candidate twice. It has also been said that in many states including Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi and Pondicherry, there is a rule regarding NOTA that if NOTA gets the maximum votes in an election, then re-election should be held.