NOTA or None Of The Above was given more preference in assembly elections by voters in than parties like Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party and Communist Party of India, according to Election Commision data.
The NOTA vote share oscillated between 2.0% in Chhatisgarh and 0.5% in Mizoram, and rest three states got an average of 1.2% NOTA votes.
In Chhattisgarh, parties like Samajwadi Party of UP, NCP of Maharashtra and Aam Aadmi Party tried their lucks. AAP got 0.9% of total votes, both NCP and SP got 0.2% each, with CPI getting 0.3%. All of these parties were outperformed by NOTA votes, which alone got 2.0% or around 2 lakh 82 thousand votes.
Interestingly, total NOTA votes are way more than the combined sum of votes received by AAP, SP, CPI and NCP which is around 2 lakh 22 thousand.Chhatisgarh elections witnessed higher per cent of NOTA votes than the other four states.
In Madhya Pradesh too, AAP lost all candidates and failed to outnumber NOTA votes.AAP had contested on 208 seats out of total 230, and most of the candidates even failed to save their deposits. Their chief ministerial candidate Alok Agrawal, only got 823 votes in his constituency. AAP got 0.7% of total votes while NOTA received 1.4%. SP fared better than AAP, but still not more than NOTA, as it registered 1.3% votes.
Even in Rajasthan AAP got 0.4%, while both SP and NCP got 0.2% each. NOTA votes stood at 1.3%. In Telangana, CPI and CPM both got 0.4% each, while NCP managed 0.4%. NOTA has again outnumbered them all. NOTA registered 1.1% of total votes.
This is not the first election in which AAP party has got a lower vote count than NOTA. In last year’s Gujarat election too, they contested 33 out of the total 182 seats of Gujarat. There, all its candidates lost all their deposits and polled lower votes than even NOTA on a few of the seats.
Delhi MLA and Aam Aadmi Party rebel, Kapil Mishra took to Twitter and slammed AAP over its indifference to poll results.
“AAP had contested polls in Chhatisgarh and MP, they lost all deposits, even in constituencies where CM Kejriwal had rallied. They(AAP) have got far lower votes than NOTA” He tweeted and added that AAP had also spent money on advertisements in the newspaper, emphasising their work in Delhi.
https://twitter.com/KapilMishra_IND/status/1072424844929699841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Yesterday, results of polls of five states were announced. BJP failed to safeguard its three states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and MP against Congress. Telangana witnessed K Chandrashekar Rao retaining his throne with a thumping majority. Mizoram voted out the incumbent Congress government and made north-east officially Congress-free.