NOTA makes its presence felt

LUCKNOW: Over 5.91 lakh voters in Uttar Pradesh chose to refuse all the candidates who were in the fray by opting Election Commission's maiden choice given to them "None of the Above" with maximum number of such votes recorded from Naxal-affected seat of Robertsganj in the state.

In the Robertsganj seat, 18,489 NOTA were polled bringing it in on the sixth spot in terms of votes garnered by each contestant. The seat was won by BJP's Chote Lal who scored 3,78,211 votes, official records said.

Maximum number of NOTA were polled in Uttar Pradesh but it was just about 0.6 per cent of the total votes over eight crore votes cast in the state, it said.

Similarly there were 18 seats where over 10,000 NOTA were polled by the voters, however, in none of these seats it was in a position to alter the results.

The seats which saw over 10,000 NOTA are Deoria, Aonla, Bahraich, Banda, Bansgaon, Basti, Faizabad, Fatehpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, Kaiserganj, Kaushambi, Kheri, Kushi Nagar, Pili Bhit, Robertsganj, Sharwasti and Sitapur.

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.