The Congress and the BJP seem to be on the same page as far as the use of ‘None Of The Above’ (NOTA) option is concerned in the upcoming polls for the three Rajya Sabha seats from the Gujarat Legislature.
Even as Congress chief whip Shailesh Manubhai Parmar in the Gujarat Assembly approached the Supreme Court on Wednesday to quash a Vidhan Sabha circular of August 1, 2017 to include NOTA option in the ballot papers for the upcoming polls, the BJP approached the Election Commission of India for removal of NOTA from the Rajya Sabha elections.
The Supreme Court agreed to list Mr. Parmar’s petition for an urgent hearing on August 3. Mr. Parmar argued that the use of NOTA would be unconstitutional.
BJP national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav led a party delegation to the EC offices at Nirvachan Sadan to submit a memorandum.
“It is submitted that use of NOTA in the upcoming poll has become an issue of debate among the political parties and therefore, a proper consensus should be made before the use of NOTA in election in Rajya Sabha,” the BJP said in the memorandum to the EC.
Since there was no secrecy in Rajya Sabha election, NOTA is not of much use, the party said. Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the parties issue whip for these elections and NOTA option went “against the nature of the whip”.
“NOTA is fine in case of direct elections but in case of Rajya Sabha elections, it should be withdrawn. This option should be eliminated as it creates confusion,” he said.
