NOTA played an important role in the 2019 elections
NOTA played an important role in the 2019 elections...
'NOTA' has emerged as a big character in the voting trend of the last two lok sabha elections in Jharkhand. In the year 2019, 1.26 percent of those who exercised their franchise in the state had chosen the option of 'None of the Above' (NOTA). Due to this, 69 percent of candidates were left behind. Earlier in the 2014 elections, 57 percent of candidates had lagged behind NOTA. After the order of the supreme court in 2013, voters also have the option to press the NOTA button on the EVM if they do not want to vote for any of the candidates standing in the elections.
In the last lok sabha elections, out of 14 seats in Jharkhand, NOTA got the most votes after the winner and runner-up in four seats - Godda, Giridih, Khunti, and Singhbhum. A total of 229 candidates were in the fray in this election, out of which a total of 159 got fewer votes than NOTA. Similarly, out of 240 candidates who contested in the 2014 lok sabha elections, 137 candidates lagged behind NOTA.
2.7 percent votes were cast on NOTA in the Singhbhum seat.
In Jharkhand, a maximum number of 2.7 percent of voters had used the NOTA button in the Singhbhum seat. Earlier in the 2014 elections, 3.4 percent of voters in this seat had chosen this option. This seat is reserved for tribals. Chatra, Giridih, Godda, and Koderma seats saw an increase in NOTA vote share in 2019 compared to 2014, while a decline was recorded in the remaining ten seats. In terms of numbers, in the last elections, the Koderma seat had the highest number of 31,164 voters who had pressed the NOTA button in the state. After this, 24,270 voters in Singhbhum and 21245 voters in Khunti had chosen the same option. In ranchi and Dhanbad, the least 0.35 percent of voters had pressed the NOTA button.