Now, NOTA a big challenge for Maharashtra parties

If the challenge of going solo, following two big break-ups, were not enough for political parties, they now have another front to deal with – the None Of The Above option. Parties admit that they are clueless as to how to influence voters who have either decided to use NOTA or contemplating the idea on October 15.

Parties have statistical reasons to worry. The vote share for NOTA has been more in the assembly polls conducted in four states in December 2013 and in the recently concluded by-polls in UP and Bihar than the Lok Sabha elections 2014.

In the Lok Sabha polls, nearly 60 lakh voters, about 1.1% of total vote share, chose to reject all candidates. The vote share for this option was much higher in the assembly polls of Chhattisgarh (2.9% voters), MP (1.9%) and Rajasthan (1.92%). Delhi voters, however, had less interest in NOTA, with only 0.5% of voters pressing this button.

In the Lok Sabha elections, over 4.32 Lakh voters in Maharashtra or 0.9 per cent of the 60.42 per cent electorate had opted for None of the Above (NOTA) introduced for the first time in the state.

Incidentally, the maximum number of protest votes in state were cast in three of the four ST seats. This included Naxal-affected ST seat of Gadchiroli-Chimur which polled the maximum number of NOTA votes at 24,479, followed by Nandurbar and Palghar – each saw over 21,000 votes. Though the victory margin in these seats were less than the NOTA share, the same margin could alter the outcome in state elections as the margins are usually slim.

"The NOTA share in assembly elections may go up in Maharashtra just like we have seen in other states. This is exactly the reason for political parties to worry," says Sanjay Patil, a political science researcher at Mumbai University.

A politician said, "Over 56 constituencies in Chhattisgarh, MP, Rajasthan and Delhi assembly elections had margin of victory less than the number of votes polled by NOTA. This is definitely one of our concerns this time."

Most of the Maharashtra voters who had chosen NOTA during Lok Sabha polls had cited discontent with the government policies, political parties and lack of inspiring candidates as the major reason for rejecting all available candidates.

Though NOTA is a method for political parties to know about the quantum of protest, it does not result in disqualification of the candidates in polls.

Reject 'em all
Election Voters Vote share (%)
Lok Sabha 60 lakh 1.1
The vote share was 0.9% for Maharashtra

2013 assembly elections %
Delhi 0.5
Chhattisgarh 2.9
MP 1.9
Rajasthan 1.92

2014 bypolls %
UP (11 seat) 1.28
Bihar (10 seats) 1.9