The Gujarat High Court Friday will hear a petition seeking modification of its order which stayed the compulsory voting, a legislation brought in the local bodies elections by the state government. The petitioner has sought implementation of “None of the Above” or NOTA option from the electronic voting machine (EVM) through the modification since this option was removed by the government through a notification on October 23. According to petitioner and lawyer K R Koshti, when the amendment was carried out by the state legislation for bringing compulsory voting, the option of NOTA was attached. He said that since the provision of compulsory voting has been stayed, he has sought court’s intervention to the extent “to provide the button of NOTA in the EVMs in the election to the local bodies”. [related-post] On August 8, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Jayant Patel and justice N V Anjaria had stayed the state legislation. The bench held, “it prima-facie appears that obligation so created by Gujarat Act No.21 of 2014 bringing about the amendment under Bombay Provincial Municipal Corpor-ation Act, Gujarat Municipalities Act and Gujarat Panchayats Act may run counter to the basic principles of entitlement on right of the voters to vote.”
