None Of The Above (NOTA) votes continue to be cast disproportionately in reserved constituencies, data from the recent elections show, raising questions about the use of this electoral reform tool.
As in the Lok Sabha elections, significantly more NOTA votes were cast in reserved seats than in general seats in the States — Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand — that have had the Assembly elections after May, The Hindu has found.
In Jharkhand, for instance, which has more general seats than reserved seats, 2.3 lakh NOTA votes were cast, accounting for 1.7 per cent of the total vote share. But these votes were disproportionately cast in reserved seats. Just two of the 20 seats with the highest proportion of NOTA votes are general, and the rest are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
In Maharashtra, the highest NOTA votes were cast in Gadchiroli, reserved for the ST. On an average across the State, NOTA votes were significantly more likely to be cast in reserved than in general seats.
While political scientists The Hindu spoke to did not yet have any explanation for what is now a phenomenon seen in every election since the introduction of the option in December 2013, political workers in Jharkhand hypothesised the reasons. “At a time when the State is discussing the possibility of its first non-tribal Chief Minister, non-tribal voters in reserved constituencies might be making a point by not voting for a tribal,” a Jharkhand Vikas Morcha leader in the State told The Hindu on the phone. Similar theories have been floated in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, but are yet to be corroborated.
“This is an important tool in the hand of voters and came after the Supreme Court’s directions. We cannot yet say whether it is being misused,” an official of the Election Commission of India said, asking not to be named.
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