An analysis of the number of registered voters in Mysuru and Chamarajanagar constituencies who exercised the None Of The Above (NOTA) option in the past elections makes for interesting reading.
The NOTA option provided by Election Commission of India is in vogue since October 11, 2013 to given a choice to the voters who do not wish to vote for any candidates in fray and to express their neutrality. But it does not mean that a candidate has to retire from fray in case the number of voters opting for NOTA is higher than the votes polled by the candidates. To that extent it makes little impact on the outcome.
The NOTA option is made available at the bottom of the panels of candidates and their symbols in the Electronic Voting Machines and the ECI website says that the NOTA symbol was designed by the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.
In the 2019 parliamentary elections, there were 22 candidates in fray from Mysuru and the NOTA option was the 23 in the EVM. As many as 5346 voters exercised the NOTA option in the constituency which had 18,96,333 electors and amounted to 0.28 per cent of the total registered voters.
But the polling percentage in 2019 in Mysuru parliamentary cosntituency was 69.5 as 1,31,8041 voters exercised their franchise and this increased the NOTA percentage to 0.41.
A perusal of the detailed results indicate that NOTA option received a higher preference than 17 other candidates who polled far lesser number of votes. Among 22 candidates in fray, NOTA was the sixth preferred option leaving behind 16 contenders most of whom were independents.
In the neighbouring constituency of Chamarajanagar, NOTA was preferred by 12,716 voters out of 16,86,333 total electors out of whom 12,70,658 had exercised their franchise. The NOTA option accounted for almost 1 per cent of the total votes polled.
While there were 10 candidates in fray in Chamarajanagar in 2019, NOTA was the fourth preferred option and was only behind the BJP, Congress and BSP.
Similarly, in the 2014 Parliamentary elections the number of electorate in Mysuru parliamentary seat was 17,23,134. Of these, 11,59,594 exercised their franchise of whom 8924 opted for NOTA. In a constituency where the polling percentage was 67.30, the NOTA was opted by 0.77 per cent of those who voted.
But in Chamarajanagar the NOTA per centage was higher and stood at 1.12 among those who cast their votes. While there were 15,55,781 registered voters in Chamarajanagar, 11,33,029 exercised their franchise of whom 12,697 people opted for NOTA.
Though the NOTA figures do not make any impact on the final outcome and nor does it provide for a recall of the candidates in case the NOTA is the first preferred option among all candidates in fray, there are voters who take the trouble of walking to the election booth to exercise the NOTA choice.
