BHUBANESWAR: Amid close contest between BJP and BJD during the ongoing simultaneous elections in the state, voting in favour of None of the Above (NOTA) as has been the trend earlier could impact the prospects of candidates in several constituencies.
Introduced in 2013, following a Supreme Court directive, the NOTA option gives voters the right to reject candidates if they do not like to vote for them without compromising with secrecy of their decision. Analysis of data from the last two Assembly and General Elections indicate that NOTA gained traction across constituencies in the state. At least 1.31 per cent votes in general elections and one per cent (2,45,425 votes) in Assembly elections were polled in favour of NOTA in 2019.
The vote share of NOTA was the third highest in Odisha after Maharashtra (7.4 lakh) and Andhra Pradesh (4 lakh) among seven states in the 2019 Assembly elections. It polled the highest 7,026 votes in Laxmipur constituency in Koraput district and the lowest 441 in Basta segment in Balasore district.
Voting for NOTA not only outperformed numerous small political parties and Independent candidates, its impact was notably felt in several parliamentary and Assembly constituencies where such votes outnumbered the margin of victory.
In 2019 General Elections, Nabarangpur recorded the highest 44,582 votes in favour of NOTA where the winning margin was 41,634. The margin was also less as compared to NOTA in Koraput and Sambalpur while it had a huge impact in Mayurbhanj, Kalahandi, Puri and Balasore. NOTA polled 36,561 votes in Koraput and 13,456 in Sambalpur where the winning margin was 3,613 and 9,162 respectively.
NOTA played a decisive role in deciding the final outcome in at least 30 Assembly constituencies and more NOTA votes were polled than the victory margin in 11 constituencies. It attained the fourth position among the contesting candidates in many seats, trailing behind candidates from BJD, BJP and Congress.
NOTA was chosen by 7,026 voters in Laxmipur where the winning margin of BJD’s Prabhu Jani was only 229. Similarly, in Kantabanji from where Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is contesting this time, Congress candidate Santosh Singh Saluja had won with a margin of only 128 votes while NOTA polled 2,453 votes. Other constituencies where NOTA outperformed the winning margin are Keonjhar, Rajgangpur, Udala, Parjanga, Mohana, Rayagada, Kotpad and Chitrakonda. One thing is common in these constituencies as all these are reserved for scheduled tribes (ST). The undivided Koraput district accounted for the highest percentage of votes for NOTA in the last Assembly polls with votes polled in this category either exceeding or reaching close to the winning margin in five constituencies.
NOTA had secured 87,363 votes (0.92 per cent) in the red alert constituencies (which have three or more candidates with criminal cases pending against them) in the state Assembly elections in 2019. It was among the highest in the country. Of the 147 Assembly constituencies, 59 were red alert seats.
