New Delhi: As the election results for the state assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are coming in, the much-discussed 'None of the Above' option (NOTA) has proved to be a damp squib.
A glance through the trends of the election trends for constituencies show that very few have actually pressed the NOTA button on the electronic voting machines.
According to data posted by the Election Commission of India at by 11 AM, in the constituencies we sampled the share of NOTA votes accounts for very low percentage of the total votes counted.
In Delhi's Adarsh Nagar, there were 322 votes for NOTA in the 35,144 votes counted. In Chhattisgarh's Dharsiwa, there 356 voters opted for NOTA amongst 10,666 counted votes. The story is similar in Madhya Pradesh's Bhojpur with 364 for NOTA in 31,042 counted votes. In Rajasthan's Jodhpur there were 516 button-presses for NOTA among 35,165 counted votes.
There are only a very few constituencies where NOTA registered a more active participation. Chhattisgarh's Dantewada is one, where 8 per cent of the votes counted was for NOTA (3208 votes for NOTA in a total of 40122).
The Election Commission of India introduced the option of negative vote (NOTA) after a recent Supreme Court order.
However, the NOTA will have no impact on the outcome of the polls. Even if more than 50 per cent of the voters opt for the negative voting, it will not change the result or prevent a candidate from winning.
As usual, the candidate who gets the maximum votes among all other candidates in the fray will be declared the winner.
But the introduction of NOTA is being seen as a first major step towards sweeping electoral reforms in the country. Many feel that it will make the candidates work harder to keep the faith of voters. Others argue that the mere introduction of NOTA makes no difference to 'corrupt' electoral system, unless they count it and if 50 per cent of the voters opt for NOTA, then it should be treated as a rejection of all candidates.
If the election figures are an indicator, NOTA is still very away from making an impact.
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