EC considering Thumbs Down as a symbol to represent NOTA

Chennai:

The Election Commission on Tuesday told Madras High Court that it will consider the symbol of Thumbs Down  to represent none of the above (NOTA) option in electronic voting machines.

G Rajagopalan, senior counsel for the election commission submitted before the first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice M M Sundresh that the suggestion made by the petitioner advocate S Sathiachandran that a symbol for NOTA may be designed on the lines of “Thumbs Down” may be considered.

Sathiachandran in his petition said that such an icon is widely used in day-to-day parlance and especially in social network sites to indicate one’s “dislike” over anything.

The petitioner has stated that the right of voters to register ‘NOTA’ would be better and effectively exercised if the Election commission identifies an apt or suitable symbol to represent NOTA and puts the same into use by printing the same in the ballot paper or providing a button in the EVMs.

Rajagopalan also submitted before the High Court that NOTA will be printed on the ballot papers to be used in Tamil Nadu for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. He also submitted that it will also be printed in Tamil.