The

State Election Commission (MSEC) on Tuesday declared that if the 'None of the Above' (NOTA) option on electronic voting machines receives the maximum votes in an assembly constituency, none of the contesting candidates will be declared elected and re-elections will be held.

The rule will come into effect for the Ahmednagar and Dhule municipal corporation polls to be held on December 9.

State election commissioner J S Saharia said that they were hoping to improve the electoral process with the help of NOTA through increased voter participation. NOTA will compel political parties to field good candidates, he said. "We found that though NOTA was in place, it did not have any bearing on polls. It did not honour and respect the majority will and opinion of the people expressed through NOTA by declaring a candidate polling less votes than NOTA as the winner. We decided to change this and make NOTA more effective," said Saharia.

Election officials said the modified NOTA rule could also come into effect for next year's

and state assembly polls, provided the

(ECI) makes changes in its plenary powers. "As of now, the NOTA rule is applicable for local elections as we have made changes in our plenary powers under Article 243. The ECI can make similar changes under Article 324," an election official said.

MSEC secretary Shekhar Channe told TOI, "It will be a landmark step. Maharashtra is set to become the first state to go ahead with the decision." MSEC, which conducts elections to panchayats and municipalities, said the order will be applicable for polls and bypolls of municipal corporations, councils and nagar panchayats.

The ECI introduced NOTA pursuant to the Supreme Court's order in September 2013, following which the NOTA button was introduced for local body polls in November. However, a clause mentioned that while announcing the result, the NOTA option should not determine the winner even if it had polled the most votes.

"Earlier, exercising NOTA did not hold any value as it was not counted for the results. Now, we will have the power to exercise our vote and dissent if we are not happy with a candidate, which may result in re-election. We hope the ECI also makes the necessary changes and incorporates it for the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly polls next year," activist Vivek Velankar said.

For local body elections in the state, MSEC said that NOTA would be treated as a "fictional electoral candidate". "If in any election, all contesting candidates individually receive less votes than NOTA, none of the contesting candidates will be declared elected and fresh elections shall be held for the post," it said.