Gujarat Assembly elections 2017: NOTA emerges third largest vote getter

Pic courtesy: PTI

Ahmedabad: Gujarat voters have emerged to be twice as likely to reject all candidates in the fray, compared to their counterparts in Himachal Pradesh. 

In percentage terms, 1.8 percent voters in Gujarat pressed the NOTA button on electronic voting machines in Gujarat. So it had been a party, the NOTA would have secured third largest vote share after the BJP and the Congress.

While the BJP has secured over 49 percent votes, the Congress got nearly 41.4 percent and independents across the state together polled 4.3 percent.

The NOTA option enables a voter to officially and secretly register a vote of rejection of all contesting candidates.

Over 5.5 lakh in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state opted for the NOTA (none of the above) button.

In Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani's Rajkot West seat, the NOTA votes were more than 3,300, while the same in Vadgam (where Congress-supported independent Jignesh Mevani won) were over 4,200. In Godhra also, NOTA counted over 3,000.

On the other hand, in Himachal Pradesh, 0.9 percent (over 33,000 voters) voted for NOTA. BJP has got 48.7 percent votes as against the Congress' 41.8 percent, while independents got 6.3 percent. CPM also managed to score more than the NOTA with 1.5 percent votes.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when NOTA was introduced for the first time in any parliamentary election, close to 60 lakh voters (1.1 percent) opted for this option, which was more than the votes polled for more than 20 parties.

Before the introduction of EVMs, when voting was done through ballot papers, voters could put in the ballot paper without marking against any candidate thereby rejecting all candidates.

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS: Gujarat | Himachal Pradesh

Such a vote was counted as a rejection. However, this rejection option was not available to voters on the EVM and therefore the NOTA button was introduced. 

Meanwhile, the BJP on Monday won the Gujarat Assembly polls for a record sixth straight victory. 

"This is double joy for me," said PM Modi in a victory speech at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi. He said he was happy that his successors continued the development work which he had spearheaded during his nearly 13- year tenure as the chief minister.

"I once again offer the hardworking party workers many congratulations. This is not an ordinary victory," he said.

(With Agency inputs)