The country which is boasting of its Prime Minister-in-waiting, who has made the youth folk take interest in politics, it may come as a shock, especially to all the 'wannabe' candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections, that around 1,90,927 voters had opted for None of the above (NOTA) option while exercising their franchise in the lok Sabha elections held in three phases in 14 parliamentary constituencies of the State. This accounts for 1.47 per cent of total votes cast in the elections.
Though the NOTA vote share may have affected the outcome of only those constituencies where the victory margin was slender, this should be a wake-up call for the candidates in the Assembly elections where a minor shift in the voting trend could make or mar the prospects of the winnable candidates. The NOTA was introduced last September by the Supreme Court of India which upheld the right of voters to reject all candidates contesting the elections. It was first used in the Assembly elections held in five states last year. According to the Election Commission website, more than 3,82,6000 people used NOTA in 16th lok Sabha elections.
The option received the maximum response in Singhbum constituency with 27,037 votes landing at fifth position sidelining many contesting candidates, who were in the fray. Former Chief Minister Madhu Koda's wife, Geeta Koda, was seeking elections from Singhbhum reserved for tribals. This was followed by other parliamentary constituencies, including Khunti also ranked fifth with 23,816 NOTA votes, Rajmahal (19,875), Dumka (18325), Palamau (18,287), lohardaga (16,764), Jamshedpur (15,629), Godda (12,410), Dhanbad (7,675), Ranchi (6,900), Koderma (6,712), Chatra (5,791).
The constituency which sealed least number of votes in favour of NOTA was Giridhi where 4,879 voters had taken the option. State's Chief Electoral officer (CEO) PK Jajoria said, "The response for NOTA in Jharkhand is surprising. In reserved constituencies this option could be on account of upper caste voters preferring to vote for none rather than to vote for a Dalit or tribal candidate." On an average, more than 10,000 votes have been cast in all the 14 parliamentary constituencies of which more than 1,000 NOTA votes were casted.
According to the Election Commission's data, under Jamshedpur Parliamentary constituency Ghatsila and Bahragora polled 3,219 votes for NOTA, as many as 3,329 votes in Potka Assembly, 3,089 votes in Jugsalai constituency, 14,498 votes and 1318 votes in Jamshedpur (East) and Jamshedpur (West) respectively.
Meanwhile, the political leaders are also surprised with the voters' response to NOTA. The option was placed at the end of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) after the list of candidates representing from various political parties as well as Independent. BJP candidate Bidyut Varan Mahto, who won the election with 99,876 margins against Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) candidate Ajoy Kumar, said, "Such response from the people is quite shocking. The reason may be after witnessing the country's plight in the past ten years has given them this option. They have lost their trust over democracy and it is high time now to retain it back."
However, Jharkhand Speaker Shashank Shekhar Bhokta blamed lack of knowledge for the same. He said, "Due to lack of knowledge and information NOTA received this response, especially in rural areas."