Press release: Analysis of Votes Polled for NOTA in Lok Sabha and State Assembly Elections (2018-2022)

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Aug 4, 2022, 2:23:32 AM8/4/22

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Press Release

Date: 4^th August, 2022

Dear friends,

ADR and National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed the number of votes secured by NOTA in various elections during 2018 to 2022. Refer to the detailed reports in English and Hindi, attached herewith.

To access the reports in both English and Hindi on our website, please see: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-votes-polled-nota-lok-sabha-and-state-assembly-elections-2018-2022

NOTA (None of the above) was introduced in India through the Supreme Court’s judgment dated 27th September 2013 in WP (C) No. 161 of 2004, (People's Union for Civil Liberties and another Vs. the Union of India and another). The SC directed the Election Commission to make necessary provision in the ballot papers/EVMs and provide a button for 'None of the Above' (NOTA) 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 to secrecy. The provision of the NOTA button was first implemented in the State Assembly Elections of Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh in 2013. In this report, ADR and National Election Watch (NEW) has analysed the number of votes secured by NOTA in various elections since 2018.

The previous report on NOTA which covered the period 2013 to 2017 was released on 9 March 2017: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-nota-votes-2013-2017

Summary and Highlights

In the last 5 years, NOTA has secured 1,29,77,627 (1.29 crores) votes in among state assembly elections and Lok Sabha Election combined.

In the last 5 years, on an average NOTA has secured 64, 53,652 votes (64.53 lakhs) in the state assembly elections.

NOTA votes in Lok Sabha 2019 Elections. Overall, NOTA secured 65, 23,975 (1.06%) votes. Among the NOTA votes in Lok Sabha elections, the highest number of votes i.e. 51,660 was in Gopalganj (SC) constituency in Bihar. The lowest number of votes NOTA secured i.e. 100 votes was in Lakshadweep.

Figure: Vote share of NOTA in Lok Sabha Elections, 2019

Among state assembly elections, NOTA has secured the highest percentage of votes in 2020, i.e. 1.46% (7, 49,360 votes) in 2 states assembly elections of Bihar (7, 06,252 votes) and NCT Delhi (43,108 votes).

NOTA has secured lowest percentage of votes in 2022, i.e. 0.70% (8, 15,430 votes) in 5 states assembly elections (combined) of Goa (10,629 votes), Manipur (10,349 votes), Punjab (1, 10,308 votes), Uttar Pradesh (6, 37,304 votes) and Uttarakhand (46,840 votes).

NOTA secured the highest number of votes in Maharashtra (7, 42,134 votes) State Assembly Elections, 2019 and secured the lowest number of votes in Mizoram (2,917 votes) State Assembly Elections, 2018.

Figure: Year-wise Total No. of Votes Polled for NOTA in State Assembly Elections from 2018 to 2022 (in Lakhs)

NOTA secured the highest percentage of vote share i.e. 1.98% in Chhattisgarh State Assembly, 2018.

NOTA secured the lowest percentage of vote share i.e. 0.46% in both Delhi State Assembly Elections, 2020 and Mizoram State Assembly Elections, 2018.

Constituency wise, NOTA has secured as high as 27,500 votes in Latur Rural constituency of Maharashtra and as low as 9 votes in Tali constituency of Arunachal Pradesh.

In few constituencies of Arunachal Pradesh such as Dirang, Along East, Yachuli and Nagaland one constituency Northern angami-ii Candidate did not have any rival candidates so NOTA has secured no votes.

Red Alert Constituencies are those which have 3 or more candidates with criminal cases contesting elections. NOTA has secured 26, 77,616 votes (26.77 lakhs) in the red alert constituencies in State assembly elections since 2018.

NOTA has secured the highest percentage of votes in red alert constituencies of Bihar. NOTA secured 1.63% votes (6, 11,122) in 217 red alert constituencies of Bihar.

Recommendations

In any constituency, if votes polled for NOTA are higher than all the contesting candidates then the following steps should be taken:

·         No candidates should be declared as elected,
·         Fresh election should be conducted, in which none of the earlier candidates should be allowed to contest, and
·         In the fresh elections, only a candidate who gets at least 50%+1 of the votes cast should be declared elected