It seems that the voters of Gujarat have used the provision granted to express their disapproval in electing any of the candidates participating in the election extensively.
In the Gujarat Assembly Election -in which both the Congress Party and BJP have grabbed a comfortable number of votes- the NOTA has bagged a huge vote share of nearly 1.9 per cent.
The huge vote share the NOTA has grabbed proves either the national parties have not put serious efforts in placing good candidates in the constituencies or the political parties have failed to attract voters and to gain trust.
Gandhidham, Somnath and Naranpura are the main constituencies, in which the NOTA has demonstrated excellent performance. Notably, in these aforementioned constituencies, the NOTA has even defeated some registered political parties such as the National Congress Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.
Moreover, in Porbandar, the NOTA vote share has even surpassed the winning margin of the candidate who has win as the MLA of the constituency.
NOTA or ‘None of the Above’ is a powerful weapon. It can prompt political parties to file a best suitable candidate in elections. Though its powers are very limited at present, the powers of this provision may expand in the near future.
Vignesh. S. G
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