We must not vote for those with self-declared criminal cases

In this scenario, if three or more candidates have self-declared criminal cases pending against them and they happen to represent the three major political parties in that state, what choice do the voters have?

This is what the situation was till September 27, 2013, when the Supreme Court, on a 2004 petition of the People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), directed the Election Commission to provide a "None Of The Above" (NOTA) button on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) "so that the voters who come to the polling booth and decide not to vote for any of the candidates in the fray are able to exercise their right not to vote while maintaining their right of secrecy".

The NOTA option, thus, provides the voters a way out of the Hobson's choice. But two things are important here.

One, a lot more needs to be done to achieve NOTA's full potential.

Two, NOTA should not be the first choice of any voter.