The debutant None Of The Above (NOTA) would be the cynosure of all eyes when counting for the ballots of five States including Madhya Pradesh would be held on Sunday.
A wide section of the people would not be interested to know as who won or lost or which party is forming Government; instead they would be interested to know as how much score would NOTA made in their respective Assembly constituency and in the State. The importance of NOTA that is used for the first time in the country in these Assembly elections for those voters who have rejected all the candidates contesting from their Assembly constituency is much more than the victory or loss of those contested.
The counting of ballots would start from 8 am at all the district headquarters, in Bhopal the counting would be held in the old jail campus. Though only those having valid entry passes would be entitled to enter in the voting site but those standing outside the voting g area would not only be eyeing for the votes of their choicest candidates but would also be having an eye over the number of NOTA votes.
Bharat Pardeshi, a first time voter from the Bhopal North assembly constituency who opted for the NOTA option while talking to The Pioneer said, “Those supporting for any particular party or candidate would be interested to know the number of votes their choicest party or candidate is getting but my interest would be that how much votes does the NOTA option gets.”
Pardeshi further said, “I am not the only one who would be eyeing for None Of The Above (NOTA) many of my friends and know people also are eagerly waiting to find out that how many votes does our choice NOTA gets.”
Ruby Khan a voter of Bhopal Madhya assembly constituency said, “Most of the people would have pressed the button with the election symbol of their liked party but those pressing NOTA option are certainly those who are angry with the current political scenario and their vote should not only be considered as referendum against the candidate from their constituency but also against the current political system.”
Khan further said that she would be more interested to know that how much NOTA votes are polled in her constituency and rest of the seats of Bhopal and state.
Though the newly introduced Nota would not directly affect the election results but it is for sure that its presence has increased not only a button on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) but has also increased the restlessness among those who are contesting the elections and hence it would be interested to watch how much votes it garners.