After the Supreme Court refused to stay use of None of the Above (NOTA) option in the Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls that will be held on August 8, a Constitutional expert, Subhash Kashyap, on Thursday said that NOTA doesn't mean the right to rejection.
Speaking to ANI, Kashyap said, "NOTA is a legal provision and it's already there. It's the law of the land and the Supreme Court through its decision has made the legal position clear by not having a stay on it. NOTA in any way doesn't mean the right to rejection. It's a political compulsion of political parties in Gujarat who have demanded a stay on NOTA".
Earlier in the day, the Apex Court had pulled up the Gujarat Congress, which filed plea seeking stay on NOTA, for raising question over the use of NOTA option and said as to why it is raising the issue so late when the Election Commission had issued the notification in January 2014.
"Why are you so late in raising the question as Election Commission had issued notification in January 2014?" the apex court asked the Congress.
The Congress Party had on Wednesday moved the apex court against the Election Commission, challenging the introduction of NOTA option in the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat.
The Congress Party has been protesting since the Election Commission notified that NOTA option will be available for the first time in upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat.
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Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has released a list of Rajya Sabha polls and bypolls that it has held with NOTA option since November 2014.
The Supreme Court in its judgement on September 27, 2014 directed that the option of NOTA shall be provided on the ballot papers or Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
The instructions were issued by the EC in October 2013 of providing NOTA as an option on the ballot after the name of the last candidate, whereas in January 2014 EC issued directions that the option of NATO shall be applicable in the elections to the Rajya Sabha.
From January, 2014, biennial elections to Rajya Sabha covering all States and 25 bye-elections to Rajya Sabha have been held.
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