Shailesh Manubhai Parmar case

Polity & Governance glossary

Also called: Shailesh Manubhai Parmar v. Election Commission of India (2018), NOTA in Rajya Sabha case · Topic: Elections and the Electoral System · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

This is a 2018 Supreme Court judgment, Shailesh Manubhai Parmar v. Election Commission of India. It held that the NOTA option ("None of the Above") cannot be used in Rajya Sabha elections. NOTA was created for direct elections, where ordinary voters choose their representative themselves. Rajya Sabha members are chosen by indirect election: elected MLAs vote for them by open ballot, which means a party MLA must show the marked ballot to the party's agent. The Court said allowing NOTA here would weaken this open ballot and party discipline. The case matters because it sets a clear limit on where NOTA can be used.

Example

Suppose a party MLA in a state assembly wants to avoid backing the party's Rajya Sabha candidate. Since the 2018 judgment, the MLA cannot do this by choosing NOTA, because the ballot paper has no NOTA option.

Don't confuse with

  • PUCL v. Union of India (2013): this case created the right to NOTA in direct elections. Shailesh Manubhai Parmar only limited where NOTA applies.
  • Kuldip Nayar case (2006): this case upheld the open ballot and the removal of the domicile rule (the rule that a Rajya Sabha candidate must live in the state). It did not deal with NOTA.

Related concepts

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