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0.5 per cent voters opt for NOTA in Delhi

Only 0.5 per cent voters opted for the newly introduced `None of the Above Option` in the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital, for which the results were declared on Friday.

New Delhi: Only 0.5 per cent voters opted for the newly introduced `None of the Above Option` in the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital, for which the results were declared on Friday. The per cent was down from the Assembly elections which were held in December last year when for the first time, the Election Commission had provided NOTA option button in EVMs for voters who did not wish to vote for any of the candidates in poll fray.
A total of 39,368 people, i.E. 0.5 per cent of the total voters opted for the NOTA option during elections in the seven Lok Sabha seats. The figure was lower than 49,884, the number of people who had pressed the NOTA option during the Delhi Assembly elections which was 0.63 per cent of the total turnout. According to data provided by Election Commission, the highest number of NOTA votes were cast at North West Delhi. As many as 8826 people pressed the NOTA button here where BJP`s Udit Raj defeated his nearest rival Rakhi Birla of Aam Aadmi Party by a margin of 1.06 lakh votes. This was followed by 7932 NOTA votes being polled at West Delhi seat, where BJP`s Parvesh Verma won by a margin of 2,68,586 votes, defeating his nearest rival Jarnail Singh of AAP. As many as 5589 people pressed the NOTA button in New Delhi seat where BJP`s Meenakshi Lekhi defeated AAP candidate Ashish Khaitan by a margin of 1,62,708 votes. A total of 4975 NOTA votes were cast in East Delhi seat, 4529 in Chandni Chowk and 4010 in South Delhi. The Assembly elections which were held on December 4 last year had saw a turnout of an estimated 80 lakh out of the 1.19 crore eligible voters for the 70-member assembly. In the Lok Sabha elections also, around 80 lakh people exercised their voting franchise out of the total 1,20,60,493 who were eligible to vote in the national capital. The Supreme Court had given the path-breaking verdict September last year, holding that voters have a Right to Reject all candidates contesting polls in a constituency by exercising the NOTA option. Following the court order, the Election Commission had introduced the option first time in the poll-bound states of Mizoram, Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh last year. However, the apex court had refused to direct the Election Commission to hold fresh polls in case the majority of the electorate exercises NOTA. The verdict, which was supposed to encourage people to go to polling booths to express disapproval against contestants, and accelerate the effective political participation in the present state of democratic system did not evoke much response from Delhi voters in both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.