NOTA votes dip nationally, increase in northeast
The Hindu
NOTA votes decrease nationally but rise in Northeast India, indicating dissatisfaction with candidate choices and development promises.
GUWAHATI
The percentage of votes recorded under NOTA or ‘none of the above’ dipped nationally in the 2024 Lok Sabha election from the 2019 edition. Northeastern India, however, showed a different trend.
Comprising eight States, the northeast has 25 seats, of which 14 are in Assam, followed by two each in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Tripura, and one each in Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim.
According to the Election Commission of India, the percentage of NOTA votes polled across India this time was 0.99%. This was 0.07% less than the 1.06% recorded in 2019. In the northeast, however, the NOTA votes increased from an average of 0.71% in 2019 to 0.81% in 2014.
“The jump in the NOTA votes in the northeast indicates the voters were not happy with the choice of candidates in a region known for MLAs switching parties. It could also be an indication that the voters saw the futility in electing leaders who fatten their purses instead of pushing the development promised, but did not want their votes to be wasted,” Pranay Bordoloi, the consulting editor of NKTV said.
Three constituencies in Assam where the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidates won recorded the highest number of NOTA votes. These are Dibrugarh (32,255), Kaziranga (24,431), and Darrang-Udalguri (23,204).
Former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal won the Dibrugarh seat for the second time since 2004. Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and Dilip Saikia won the Kaziranga and Darrang-Udalguri seats respectively. Kaliabor and Mangaldoi morphed into Kaziranga and Darrang-Udalguri seats in a different shape after the 2023 delimitation exercise.
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