Q. Consider the following statements regarding NOTA option in elections:
1. It is introduced for elections to Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State legislative assembly and Legislative councils.
2. The votes polled against NOTA option are taken into account for calculating the total valid votes.
3. It is a kind of negative voting and it also provides for the Right to Reject.
How many of the statements given above are incorrect?
Exp) Option c is the correct answer.
NOTA, or “None of the Above”, is the option which enables the voter to officially register a vote of rejection for all candidates who are contesting.
Statement 1 is incorrect. NOTA (None of the Above) was introduced by Election commission in 2013 for the Lok sabha and state legislative assembly elections and not for the Rajya Sabha and state Legislative councils’ election.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The votes polled against NOTA option are not taken into account for calculating the total valid votes. It is counted as invalid votes.
Statement 3 is incorrect. NOTA is a negative feedback option for voters to voice out their dissatisfaction. It acts as a kind of negative voting. But it does not provide for Right to Reject a candidate i.e. the election does not get nullified if the number of votes polled against the NOTA option is more than the number of votes polled by any one of the candidates.
