The SC is hearing a PIL filed by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy that has challenged Section 53(2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which allows a candidate to be declared elected unopposed if no other candidate has filed a nomination or their nominations have not been found to be valid.
Image: IANS
The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday made some important observations with regard to the NOTA (None of the Above) option available to voters in elections. A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi expressed doubt whether the introduction of NOTA has resulted in the improvement of elected leaders in the country.
The bench made the verbal observation while hearing a petition that had sought the making of the NOTA option compulsory in all elections, including instances when only a single candidate is contesting from a constituency.
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The bench observed that educated and affluent persons continue to exhibit a lower percentage of participation in elections compared to the economically weaker sections.
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“Has the quality of elected leaders improved with (the introduction of) NOTA? Because what tells us is that educated, well-off people vote less and the economically weaker section votes more,” said Justice Joymalya Bagchi, as per news agency ANI.
The CJI said the court has contemplated introducing a mandatory but not harsh mechanism to force people to cast their votes in elections.
“Sometimes we think we need to issue some kind of compulsory but not harsh mechanism to ensure that people go and vote. It (mechanism) may not be punitive in nature,” the CJI observed.
The CJI pointed out that in rural areas, women who are not involved in labour or construction works go in groups to cast their votes while singing songs etc.
“Women voters have perpetually increased,” Justice Bagchi added.
The Supreme Court expresses doubt whether the introduction of NOTA (None of the above) option in elections has resulted in improvement of elected leaders in the country.
While hearing a plea seeking to make the None of the Above (NOTA) option mandatory in all elections,… pic.twitter.com/uPcSC3HZin
— ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2026
It may be noted that the Supreme Court is hearing a PIL filed by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy that has challenged Section 53(2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The Act allows a candidate to be declared elected unopposed, without any votes being cast, if no other candidate has filed a nomination or their nominations have not been found to be valid.
The Vidhi Centre has argued that this provision in the Act undermines the voter’s right to participate in an election, by not holding voting due to the particular election being uncontested.
The apex court had last year said that it will examine whether the NOTA option should be made mandatory and available to voters even when only a single candidate is eligible for the election from a particular constituency. This means that in elections where there is only a single uncontested candidate, voting will still be held, with NOTA being the second option.
During a hearing in August last year, CJI Kant noted that the provision of the law that allows automatic victory for an uncontested candidate fails to consider the fact that voters may disapprove of the only candidate in the fray.
Justice Kant had observed that there was a “very interesting question” as to whether the voters still have the right to register their disapproval, adding that permitting NOTA in these rare elections would symbolically protect voters’ rights.
The None of the Above (NOTA) option was introduced in Indian elections in 2013, at the direction of the Supreme Court.
It was first implemented in November 2013 in elections to the Legislative Assemblies of five states/UTs, namely Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.
NOTA was first available to voters as an option in the General Elections in 2014.
NOTA got an official symbol in September 2015 in the form of a ballot paper with a black cross. The symbol was designed by the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad.
When India first implemented NOTA as an option in EVMs in 2013, it became the 14th country in the world to do so.
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