With BJP-Sena combine scoring 41 in MH, here is the count of voters opting for NOTA
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Mumbai, May 25: ‘Abki baar.. 300 paar’ is what the nation at large is cheering aloud for the massive win attained by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Lok Sabha polls. BJP as was estimated earlier, won on 303 seats in forcing the Congress to take a back seat on 52 seats, out of total 542 Parliamentary constituency seats.
Stressing at the state of Maharashtra specifically, The BJP-Shiv Sena combine has managed achieving after much cajoling from the BJP top brass. The results have proved pleasing for the two parties where the alliance reached to 41 out of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, the Sena's share being 18 amid.
After the results breaking through the data revealed by the Election Commission notified that the number of people who opted for NOTA i.e none of the above in Maharashtra was slightly higher when compared to the 2014 polls. “The state recorded 4,86,902 NOTA votes, up from the 4,83,459 in the 2014 polls”, it said.
With the Palghar constituency recording the highest number of NOTA votes counting 29,479, the Naxal affected Gadhiroli-Chimur saw 24,599 voters opting for NOTA. Besides, Nandurbar and Thane Lok Sabha constituencies also saw a sizable number of voters opting for NOTA being 21,925 and 20,426 respectively.
Incidentally, Nagpur, a major urban Lok Sabha seat, the number of people who went for NOTA was reportedly only 4,578, probably the lowest compared to 2014. “Out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, as many as 21 constituencies reported more than 10,000 voters opting for NOTA, including all six Lok Sabha seats from Mumbai and urban Lok Sabha constituencies such as Thane, Kalyan, Raigad and Pune”, the EC official claimed.
The Supreme Court cleared the introduction of the NOTA button on September 27, 2013, after the People’s Union for Civil Liberties filed a petition seeking the measure. When voters do not have a choice, they chose NOTA, signalling dissatisfaction with the candidates.
“We direct the Election Commission to provide necessary provision in the ballot papers/EVMs and another button called “None of the Above” (NOTA) may be provided in EVMs so that the voters, who come to the polling booth and decide not to vote for any of the candidates in the fray, are able to exercise their right not to vote while maintaining their right of secrecy”, the Court had said upright.