Moneycontrol News
The Gujarat Assembly elections this year saw close to two percent of its voters going for the None of the Above (NOTA) option, while 0.9 percent of voters in Himachal Pradesh did the same.
According to the Election Commission data, 1.8 percent of the voters , or 521321 of the voters expressed their displeasure at all the candidates by opting for NOTA in Gujarat.
For more stories, read our blog
One theory doing the rounds is that a majority of NOTA voters would be the young Gujaratis who may have never seen any other government other than BJP, which has been ruling the state for the last 23 years.
The young Patidar voters might have also been a large contributor to the NOTA voters. The Patidars have been sidelined in their call for reservations by the BJP government two years ago and were not looking forward to vote for the BJP.
A Mumbai Mirror story states that close to 10 lakh voters would be voting for the first time.
Such a percentage of the voters is still not a small number for either of the parties to ignore. With two majority parties in a state, a voter share of this percentage can swing the polls in favour of either party.
Particularly looking at Gujarat, the NOTA vote could have been a game changer for the Congress, or a clearer margin of victory for the BJP if either party had adopted more discretion in picking their candidates ahead of the polls.
First released in 2013, with the intention of officially registering one’s dissatisfaction with the candidates standing for public office, a Hindu article states that the NOTA has never gone beyond 2.5 percent. The largest percentage of voters were 2.49 of voters going for NOTA in 2015 Assembly election.
According to the Election Commission of India, NOTA has the same effect as not voting for any candidate. Therefore, even if, in any extreme case, the number of votes against NOTA is more than the number of votes secured by the candidates, the candidate who secures the largest number of votes among the contesting candidates shall be declared to be elected.
The Supreme Court said that negative voting would encourage people to show their dissatisfaction and reject all contestants.
A bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam, states that negative voting will be forced to rethink about the kind of candidates the political parties entertain. The bench further stated that if the right to vote is a statutory right, then the right to reject a candidate is a fundamental right of speech and expression under the Constitution.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
