NOTAble debut: 9,735 votes in Ernakulam

An independent candidate, who pockets a few thousand votes in his debut election, and that, too, without any campaigning is an impressive feat.

That is the kind of performance NOTA (None of the Above) notched up in Ernakulam and Chalakudy constituencies.

While 9,735 cast their votes in favour of NOTA in Ernakulam, it was 10,552 in Chalakudy. It emerged seventh in both the constituencies, which had 17 and 16 candidates respectively.

“It is an indication of how fed up the electorate is with the political parties and their candidates. Unless political parties take cue from this, they would soon have to face the embarrassment of NOTA getting more and more votes,” warned Shyam Sundar, a city-based doctor.

NOTA was introduced to empower the electorate to register their dissent with the contesting candidates.

While it did not in any way affect the outcome in Ernakulam where the victory margin of UDF candidate K.V. Thomas was in excess of 87,000, in Chalakudy, where the margin of LDF-backed independent candidate Innocent was just under 14,000, NOTA’s share was damaging.