Why NOTA was introduced in Indian Elections
After the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) filed a writ petition, the Supreme Court of India issued a judgment that read as, "We direct the Election Commission to provide necessary provision in the ballot papers/EVMs and another button called “None of the Above” (NOTA) may be provided in EVMs so that the voters, who come to the polling booth and decide not to vote for any of the candidates in the fray, are able to exercise their right not to vote while maintaining their right of secrecy."
Why the Supreme Court felt the need to include the NOTA option
As evident in the judgment issued in the case mentioned above, the Supreme Court felt it is highly essential that candidates of high moral and ethical values are elected as people's representatives so that a proper governance of the nation is ensured. In this line, the Supreme Court feels that the NOTA option exercised by the electors will compel the political parties to nominate only sound candidates.
How will NOTA impact the election results
The EC has clarified that even if the number of votes polled for NOTA is more than the total number of votes secured by the contesting candidates, the candidate who secures the largest number of votes will be announced as the winner.
Votes polled for NOTA will not be considered to determine the forfeiture of the security deposit.
More votes for NOTA will help perceive the prevailing dissatisfaction among the voters in a given electorate.
How to cast your vote as NOTA
If you wish to exercise the NOTA option in the upcoming elections, follow the steps given under.
- The EVMs that you will find in the upcoming Delhi assembly elections will have the NOTA (None of The Above) option at the bottom of all the listed candidates.
- As you will move to the ballot station, look for the blue button against the NOTA option and press it.
- The VVPAT will print out your NOTA vote as done in the case of the regular voting.
- View the printed ballot slip through the glass in the VVPAT within 7 seconds after casting your vote. This will help confirm that your NOTA vote has been rightly recorded by the EVM as intended.
- The ballot slip will get cut and fall inside the VVPAT ballot box accompanied by a beep sound. If you do not see this happen and hear a loud beep sound, inform the polling officer to check what has gone wrong.
- Note that you can only check the ballot slip printed by the VVPAT by viewing through the glass and the slip will not be given to you.