The Election Commission today sought time in the Madras High court to reply on a PIL seeking a direction to ECI to develop a symbol to denote NOTA option on the voting machine as a vast majority of people is illiterate and an exclusive symbol for NOTA alone would serve the desired purpose fully.
In his PIL, Sathiachandran, an advocte, submitted that an awareness campaign of the symbol for NOTA should also be conducted through the media.
The provision to register that none of the candidates listed are found suitable was contained in Rule 49-O of the conduct of Election Rules. As per the rule, the electors who decide not to vote in favour of any candidate can register his or her decision in Form 17-A.
The right of the voters to register NOTA would be better and effectively exercised if ECI identifies an apt symbol by printing it on the ballet paper or providing a button in EVMs.
Senior Counsel for ECI G Rajagopalan sought time to submit reply on the proposed action to be taken by ECI when the petition came came up for hearing before the First Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Sathish K Agnihotri and Justice M M Sunderesh.
