NOTA can't be treated as candidate, Centre tells SC

NEW DELHI: A day after the Supreme Court found it worth examining whether ' NOTA ' could be deemed a rival in a constituency where a single candidate is in the fray, the Centre strongly opposed the reasoning on Friday and said NOTA, being a mere option or expression, cannot be given the status of a candidate either statutorily or constitutionally.

"NOTA option is not a person which has been duly nominated at any election and, hence, cannot be held to be a candidate under the Representation of the People Act , 1951. 'NOTA' ought not to be given an artificial personality. 'NOTA' is merely an option or an expression and does not fit within the definition of 'candidate'," the ministry of law and justice said in affidavit.

Petitioner NGO 'Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy' had pointed out that in case of an election in which only a single candidate contests from a constituency, Section 53(2) of RP Act automatically declares the said candidate elected without holding the poll. This denies citizens the right to vote against the said candidate by opting for 'NOTA', which is a facet of their fundamental right to expression under Article 19(1)(a) exercised through voting.

The ministry said that the right to vote, which is a statutory right and not a fundamental right, arises only in a situation where a poll involving two or more candidates in a constituency is held. The 'freedom of voting' is incidental to the 'right to vote' in 'the poll' under Sec 62 of RP Act, it said.