The winners in the recently concluded Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are winners in the true sense of the word, as they secured more votes than in 2017 and won by an average of 47 per cent of total votes polled.

In the 2017 polls, the winners had won by an average of 43 per cent of total votes polled.

As per an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released on Thursday, 85 winning candidates won with 50 per cent votes and above of the total votes polled in their constituency while 149 winners romped home with less than 50 per cent of the total votes polled.

On the other hand, nearly 25 per cent of 205 winners with declared criminal cases won with a vote share of 50 per cent and above and 28 per cent of 366 crorepati winners won with a vote share of 50 per cent and above. This directly implies that money and muscle power still dominate elections in UP.

The ADR report shows that 15 legislators won by a margin of less than 1,000 votes while eight successful candidates won with more than 40 per cent of margin of victory. A total of 78 among 205 legislators with declared criminal cases won against a runner-up with a clean background. Among these 78, three won with more than 30 per cent votes. Of the 49 winners, seven won with more than 30 per cent votes. The list includes Atul Garg (BJP) from Ghaziabad seat who won with 43 per cent votes.

As far as performance of women candidates is concerned, there were 47 winners in the total 403 seats. Five women legislators won with more than 20 per cent votes.

Among women winners, Anjula Singh Mahaur (BJP) from Hathras seat won with the highest vote share of 59 per cent and with a difference of 38 per cent votes polled.

The NOTA button, included in the EVMs by the Election Commission of India in 2013, gave the voters an option of rejecting all candidates in their constituency.

Of the 9.21 crore votes polled in the recently concluded elections, a total of 6.37 lakh voters or 0.69 per cent, opted for the NOTA button.