Scratch ballot draws a near blank, gets 0.5 per cent vote
While most Delhiites voted for the BJP in the lok Sabha elections, there were very few takers for the newly-introduced None Of The Above (NOTA) option, during polling. Only 0.5 per cent voters opted for NOTA for the seven lok Sabha seats this time.
The percentage was lower than the Assembly elections in December last year, when the Election Commission (EC) provided the NOTA option in EVMs for the first time, for voters who did not wish to vote for any of the candidates in the poll fray.
A total of 39,368 people, that is, 0.5 per cent of the total voters opted for NOTA during elections this time. The figure was lower than the Assembly elections, where 49,884 people opted for NOTA, which was 0.63 per cent of the total turnout then.
According to the data provided by the Election Commission, the highest number of NOTA voters was in North-West Delhi. As many as 8,826 people pressed the NOTA button here where BJP’s Udit Raj defeated his nearest rival Rakhi Birla of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by a margin of 1.06 lakh votes.
This was followed by 7,932 NOTA votes being polled at West Delhi seat where BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma won by a margin of 2,68,586 votes, defeating his nearest rival Jarnail Singh of AAP. As many as 5,589 people pressed the NOTA button in New Delhi seat where BJP’s Meenakshi lekhi defeated AAP candidate Ashish Khetan by a margin of 1,62,708 votes. A total of 4,975 NOTA votes were cast in East Delhi seat, 4,529 in Chandni Chowk and 4,010 in South Delhi. The Assembly elections, which were held on December 4 last year, witnessed a turnout of an estimated 80 lakh out of the 1.19 crore eligible voters for the 70 constituencies.