Post Election Results, Let’s Talk About The Impact of NOTA

Election commission officials demonstrating the handling of EVM in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, 26 April 2016. (Photo: PTI) 

Let’s talk about NOTA. The ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option has been on EVMs with a dedicated symbol for some time now. But of the 822 constituencies that went to polls this time, the NOTA option count was more than the victory margin in 62 constituencies. Of these, 24 were in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu each. Which means NOTA is a polling button that can cause significant political ramifications.

NOTA polled close to 17 lakh votes in the 5 states that voted this time. Election results from these states indicate that the votes polled for NOTA were more than the victory margin in 62 out of 822 constituencies.

(Photo Courtesy: India Spend)

About 17 Lakh Vote for NOTA in 5 States

Half of the 17 lakh votes polled in the name of NOTA came from West Bengal (8.3 lakh) followed by Tamil Nadu (5.6 lakh). NOTA polled about 1.9 lakh votes in Assam & about 1.07 lakh in Kerala. NOTA polled a little more than 13000 votes in Puducherry. In terms of the vote share, NOTA’s vote share is least in Kerala (0.53%) and highest in Puducherry (1.65%). NOTA vote share is 1.52% in West Bengal and 1.3% in Tamil Nadu. NOTA’s vote share in Assam is 1.12%.

(Photo Courtesy: India Spend)

(Photo Courtesy: India Spend)

AIADMK Is the Largest Beneficiary

Out of the 62 seats where the NOTA count was more than the victory margin, 17 were won by the AIADMK, and 10 by the Trinamool Congress and the Congress each. DMK won 7 such seats followed by CPI(M) that won 5 such seats. Both the BJP and RSP won 3 such seats. In fact, all the 3 seats won by RSP in these elections were won by a margin less than the NOTA count in that constituency.

And you thought NOTA was not a potent ballot option!