RS polls will have NOTA option: SC rejects Congress plea

Supreme Court refuses to stay plea on NOTA option; upcoming Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls to be held with NOTA.

— ANI (@ANI_news) August 3, 2017

While the BJP on Wednesday petitioned the Election Commission (EC) saying it has exceeded its powers and demanded the withdrawal of NOTA, the Congress moved the Supreme Court contending the poll panel’s move was “ex facie illegal”.

While the EC, relying on a Supreme Court verdict had directed the states and union territories in 2014 to ensure NOTA in all Rajya Sabha polls, the BJP in its memorandum claimed that the apex court’s 2013 verdict had “no specific direction for use of NOTA for elections to the Rajya Sabha”.

“The Election Commission had acted beyond the direction passed by the Supreme Court by issuing the letter dated 24 January 2014, and further direction for use of NOTA in the 8 August election to Rajya Sabha,” the BJP said in the memorandum.

It argued that NOTA was not of “much use” as the provision of the secret ballot was not there in this election.

“The use of NOTA option during the Rajya Sabha election has become an issue of debate among the political parties and therefore a proper consensus should be made before the use of NOTA in the Rajya Sabha election,” the BJP said demanding a withdrawal of NOTA with immediate effect.

The BJP’s move came a day after the Congress petitioned the poll panel claiming – “the use of NOTA in an indirect election was contrary to the mandate of the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act, as well as conduct of election rules”.

Meanwhile, Congress' chief whip in the Gujarat Assembly Shailesh Manubhai Parmar filed a petition before the SC contending the EC’s decision to introduce NOTA in Rajya Sabha polls was “ex facie illegal”, and against the provisions of Article 80(4) of the Constitution.

“The EC despite being the Constitutional watch dog for ensuring free and fair elections has become a tool in the hands of the ruling dispensation to facilitate a violation of the provisions of the Constitution, the provisions of the Act and the Rules,” Parmar said in the petition.

The petition also contended that the Supreme Court’s directive for NOTA was only applicable for Lok Sabha polls.

“Lok Sabha polls a case of direct elections, where the exercise of NOTA is an expression of the will of the people. In the case of elections to Rajya Sabha, it defeats and renders nugatory the mechanism of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote as envisaged under the Constitution. As such allowing the option of NOTA for elections to Rajya Sabha results in irreparable loss…,” said the petition seeking that the court strike down the notifications and circular issued by the Election Commission and the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha as void.

The developments came on a day when the I-T department launched a massive raid against Karnataka’s Energy Minister DK Shivakumar. Shivakumar was playing host to 42 Gujarat MLAs who had been spirited away from Ahmedabad to protect them from being lured by the BJP before the RS elections.

The raids prompted senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who is contesting the polls, to accuse the BJP of unleashing a witch-hunt. Patel took to Twitter to express his ire –

BJP is on an unprecedented witch-hunt just to win one Rajya Sabha seat

— Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) August 2, 2017

After using the state machinery and every other agency,these I-T raids show their utter desperation & frustration

— Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) August 2, 2017