NOTA offers voters a powerful mechanism to register dissent.
It empowers them to express disapproval of all candidates while ensuring the privacy of their choice.
This option strengthens democratic participation by acknowledging the right to reject, potentially prompting political parties to improve candidate selection.
Following a 2013 Supreme Court directive in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties versus Union of India case, NOTA made its debut in the electoral process during the 2013 Assembly elections in five states—Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh—before being utilised again in the subsequent 2014 General Elections.
The Election Commission clarified that NOTA votes are counted as 'invalid votes.'
Even if NOTA receives the most votes in a constituency, the candidate with the second-highest votes is declared the winner.
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