Punjab panchayat poll: HC junks 888 pleas, says NOTA irrelevant in unopposed elections

In its 129-page ruling on 888 pleas concerning panchayat elections in Punjab, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has clarified two key legal points — writ petitions challenging the rejection of nomination papers are non-maintainable during the election process, and the law mandates unopposed election when only one candidate remains in the fray, making the absence of the NOTA (none of the above) option inconsequential.

The Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma held that any grievances regarding the rejection of nomination papers was required to be raised only after the conclusion of the election, through an election petition before the election tribunal.

Referring to the Supreme Court's judgment in NP Ponnuswami case, the court ruled that the election processes must be completed as scheduled without interference from disputes arising during the elections.

The affected parties were required to wait until the declaration of results, and then approach the election tribunal in case of irregularities, including those involving improper rejection of nomination papers.

The Bench was of the view that the purported improper rejection of papers, even if vitiating the election, was not a dispute that could be raised before the high court at this stage. The remedy was exclusively with the tribunal post-declaration of results.

In a related issue, the court also rejected arguments concerning the availability of NOTA for uncontested seats. Referring to Section 54(3) of the Punjab State Election Commission Act of 1994, the Bench ruled that the returning officer was bound by law to declare a candidate elected unopposed, when only one remained. As such, the absence of the NOTA option in such cases was deemed irrelevant by the court.

The Bench was of the view that it was inconsequential to argue for the availability of the NOTA option when there was no contest between two or more candidates.

“The exercising of NOTA by the electorate would arise only if there was a contest amongst at least two candidates…. As such, when there is no breach made to the statutory provision, the non-assigning of an opportunity to the electorate to exercise NOTA thereby becomes inconsequential,” the Bench added, dismissing the writ petitions.