Andhra High Court directs EC to put NOTA symbol on voting machines

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to ensure that all voters, including illiterates, are made aware of the NOTA (None Of The Above) option for the upcoming polls.

A division bench of Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was dealing with a PIL filed by writer and film director P. Sauda. He had pointed out that the NOTA option had been ordered by the Supreme Court.

The bench directed the EC to allot a symbol for NOTA so that voters could easily identify it.

Justice Sengupta pointed out that it would be difficult for uneducated voters living in rural areas and slums to cast their votes as the NOTA option did not have a symbol.