Bagging the second place, NOT-A loser in Ajmer

About 27000 voters in Ajmer, Alwar and Mandalgarh bypolls have rejected candidates of all parties and independents and pressed the none of the above (NOTA) button.

Interestingly, the first runner-up in Ajmer election was a NOTA.

As per chief electoral officer (CEO) website, voters have pressed the NOTA button more frequently compared to previous elections. In Alwar, over 15093 voters preferred NOTA which secured third place after winning candidates Congress Karan Singh Yadav and runners-upBJP’s Jaswant Singh Yadav. The 2512 voters had cast NOTA in 2014 Lok Sabha election which has now reached 15000, almost 600 times more in Alwar.

In Ajmer, 8160 NOTAs were registered while in Mandlagarh it stands at 4350. Both constituencies Ajmer and Mandalgarh, however, witnesses a trend of dipping NOTA votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election 12546 NOTAs were recorded in Ajmer against 8160 votes recordedin the current bypoll. Similarly, Mandalgarh assembly voters had pressed 4893 times in 2014 Rajasthan assembly election which reduced by a slight margin to 4350 in the 2018 bypoll.

The vote share tally also says it was a direct contest between BJP and Congress in Ajmer and Alwar as others, mainly independents, whose tally reached a couple of thousands, were not preferred by the electorates. None among independents and other party candidates could notch 10000 votes in the bypolls. Only in Mandalgarh, it was a triangular contest with Gopal Malviya, a rebel from the Congress, bagging the third position by securing 40470 votes.