NOTA has played an important role in Jharkhand, 69% candidates lagged behind in 2019 ₹298.57

Ranchi: ‘NOTA’ has emerged as a big player 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 candidates were left behind. Earlier in the 2014 elections, 57 percent 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 had received 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 less votes than NOTA. Similarly, out of 240 candidates who contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, there were 137 candidates who lagged behind NOTA. Singhbhum seat in Jharkhand had the highest number of 2.7 percent voters who used NOTA button. Earlier in the 2014 elections, 3.4 percent voters on 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, 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 chose the same option. In Ranchi and Dhanbad, the least 0.35 percent voters had pressed the NOTA button.