None of the Above (NOTA) has been part of the electoral system for the past five years. But the first ever Statewide survey, to understand voter awareness across Karnataka, has found that 55% of the people are still not aware of the option on EVMs.
“These figures show an urgent intervention required by the Election Commission,” the survey, which interviewed 70,000 households, noted.
Karnataka had NOTA option for the first time in 2014 Parliament elections.
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While 36% respondents reported to have seen it while exercising their franchise, 5.3% reported having heard about the option and only 3.7% said that they have been informed about the same in electoral literacy programmes.
In the region break-up, the highest numbers of those who are not aware of NOTA came from Belagavi (68.3%), Kalaburgi (66.6%) and Mysuru (63.8%)
The survey, conducted by S. Madheswaran of Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC) on behalf of Election Commission, to understand the knowledge and awareness about electoral process has thrown many interesting information on the voters. The survey report, along with recommendations, was released here on Friday by the Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar.
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When a discussion on Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) across the country had generated heated discussion, a whopping 72% of the interviewed population (survey was conducted in November/ December) was not aware of VVPAT.
While 7.7 % had seen VVPAT at the time of voting, only 3.3% had said that they knew about it due to voter awareness programme.
For the first time, all the polling booths across 224 constituencies will have VVPATs. “It is a challenge and voters must have confidence. After we received the survey report, awareness programmes are being held and almost 2 crore people have been reached in the State. The figures may have come down now,” Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar said.
Elders have a big say in rural areas
As many as 11.5 % of respondents in rural areas said that they will listen to their elders and vote accordingly, while it is about 5.6% in urban centres. The survey reveals that 9.2 % women and 8.1% men vote according to their elders’ advice.
The highest is among the Scheduled Castes where 15.9% said that they will go by elders’ advice while it was 11.7% among scheduled tribes and 7.7 % among others.