In the last Lok Sabha elections, more than 65 lakh voters had pressed the NOTA button, which is a shocking figure in 5 years

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Since NOTA option was given in EVMs to not vote for any candidate in the elections, different attitudes of voters are being seen across the country. Whereas in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 1.06 percent votes were cast in NOTA. So in the year 2014, 1.08 percent votes were cast. In the last two Lok Sabha elections, voting took place with a large number of currency notes in many states and union territories including Bihar.

Maximum votes were cast in these states

In the year 2019, around 1.06% voters felt that a candidate was not worth their vote and pressed the NOTA button. The 2019 Lok Sabha election lasted for six weeks and recorded the highest turnout in the history of Lok Sabha elections. According to the Election Commission, the voting percentage in 2019 was 67.11 percent. In this election, the highest number of people pressed the buttons of currency notes in Assam and Bihar at 2.08 percent, while the lowest voter turnout was 0.65 percent in Sikkim, followed by 1.54 percent in Andhra Pradesh and 1.44 percent in Chhattisgarh. Talking about Union Territories, Daman and Diu got the maximum 1.70 percent votes. A total of 65.2 lakh votes were cast in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, of which 22,272 were postal ballots.

In the Lok Sabha elections 2014, 59,97,054 voters of the country chose the option of currency notes. In the year 2014, Meghalaya had the highest number of 2.8 percent votes cast for NOTA. After this, 1.8 percent people in Chhattisgarh and 1.7 percent people in Gujarat pressed the note button. As far as Union Territories are concerned, Puducherry had the highest number of 3.01 per cent votes cast in paper ballots and a total of 60.2 lakh votes were cast in paper ballots in the country.

1.29 crore votes were cast in the last five years

According to a report, about 1.29 crore votes were cast in state and Lok Sabha elections in the five years between 2018 and 2022. An average of 64.53 lakh votes were cast in the state assembly elections. A total of 65,23,975 (1.06 percent) votes were cast in NOTA.

When was NOTA started?

After the decision of the Supreme Court, the note button in EVM was nominated for elections. According to experts, NOTA was introduced in Indian elections after the Supreme Court decision in September 2013. There was a need to introduce the NOTA option to prevent parties from fielding unpopular candidates.

The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to make necessary provisions in the ballot paper/EVM so that voters can decide not to vote for any candidate in the fray. Following a Supreme Court order in September 2013, the Election Commission added the NOTA button to EVMs as the last option on the voting panel. Before the Supreme Court order, those who were not ready to vote for any candidate had the option of filling Form 49-O.