The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday refused to give direction for inclusion of none of the above (NOTA) button in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) to be used in the elections to be held to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on August 22.
The Court dismissed the PIL petition, filed by advocate N.P Amrutesh, for the reason that it was filed belatedly with only a few days left for the elections.
A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice B.V. Nagarathna, however, observed that it is best known to the State Election Commission (SEC) why no provision was made for NOTA in the EVMs even though there was a direction from the Supreme Court in this regard.
The petitioner had contended that absence of NOTA provision came to the notice of the public only recently.
The SEC counsel, however, pointed out that the petitioner has given representation for inclusion of NOTA in the EVMs at the last minute and it cannot be done at this stage. Also, the SEC counsel said that there is a separate provision available for recording NOTA and the SEC rules required to be amended for providing NOTA provision in the EVMs.
