Thousands of voters choose ‘NOTA’ option in Himachal Pradesh

News Bharati    24-May-2019
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Shimla, May 24:
 The Ruling BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections winning all four seats in Himachal Pradesh. The party won Mandi, Shimla, Hamirpur and Kangra with record margins. As per election official said, as many as 33,008 voters chose the NOTA option. In this way, 0.87 per cent voters opted for NOTA out of the total 38,01, 793 votes polled in the state on May 19.

The highest 11,327 voters chose NOTA in Kangra, followed by 8,357 in Shimla, 8,026 in Hamirpur and 5,298 in Mandi, the official said. He said a total of 29,032 voters (0.9 per cent) had opted for NOTA in the 2014 parliamentary elections.

He said as electronic voting machines (EVMs) were used for general voters, there was no chance to get votes rejected. But, the votes of the soldiers, generally known as service voters, and those of the poll staff, who use ballot papers to exercise their franchise, may be rejected if not properly cast, the official added. While explaining service voters he said, Of the total 53,30,154 registered voters in the four constituencies, 68,028 (1.27 per cent) are service voters. The highest service voters 24,245 are in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, followed by 21,836 in Kangra, 13,474 in Mandi and 8,473 in Shimla, a state electoral officer said.

Through the usage of NOTA, a citizen can choose not to vote for any candidates who are contesting the elections. However, NOTA in India do not guarantee dismissal of the winning candidate. Therefore, it’s only a method to give negative feedback. NOTA does not hold any electoral value i.e. even if the maximum votes are for NOTA, the candidate with maximum vote share will still be the winner.