Bengaluru: None of the Above (NOTA) has been part of the electoral system for the past five years. But the first ever State-wide survey, to understand voter awareness across Karnataka, has found that 55% of the people are still not aware of the option on EVMs.

 “These figures show an urgent intervention required by the Election Commission,” the survey, which interviewed 70,000 households, noted.

Karnataka had NOTA option for the first time in 2014 Parliament elections.

In the region break-up, the highest numbers of those who are not aware of NOTA came from Belagavi (68.3%), Kalaburgi (66.6%) and Mysuru (63.8%)

The survey, conducted by S. Madheswaran of the Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC) on behalf of Election Commission, to understand the knowledge and awareness about electoral process has thrown up interesting information on the voters.

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Prayagraj, Jan 24 (PTI): The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition seeking direction to the state authorities to permit the mounting of loudspeakers on a Masjid.

The court observed that the religious places were for offering prayers, therefore the use of loudspeakers was not a matter of right.

Dismissing the writ petition filed by Pilibhit-resident Mukhtiyar Ahmad, a two judge-bench, comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Donadi Ramesh, observed, "Religious places are for offering prayers to the divinity and use of loudspeakers cannot be claimed as a matter of right, particularly when often such use of loudspeakers create nuisance for the residents".

At the outset, the state counsel objected to the maintainability of the writ on the grounds that the petitioner was neither a mutawalli, nor did the mosque belong to him.

The court also noted that the petitioner did not have locus to file the writ petition.

The term 'locus' is a legal concept that refers to the right of a person or entity to participate in a legal proceeding or bring a lawsuit.