Jharkhand polls: NOTA performs better than parties of Koda and Ekka

Ranchi, Dec 24: None of the above (NOTA) option fared better than former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda's Jai Bharat Samanta Party (JBSP), taking a 1.7 per cent vote share in the just ended Jharkhand Assembly elections to give the state its tenth government.

A total of 2,35,045 voters (1.7 per cent of the total polling) chose to press NOTA button in the elections that spanned over five phases for 81 seats, taking nearly a month, with the counting ending yesterday.

In comparison, JBSP managed 0.8 per cent votes with Koda losing the Majhgaon seat, though his wife, Gita, retained her seat from Jagannathpur on the party ticket.

NOTA also prevailed over Koda's former cabinet colleague Anosh Ekka's Jharkhand Party (JP), which registered only 1.1 per cent vote share. While Ekka won his Kolibera seat, his wife Menon, lost from Simdega constituency.

With one per cent vote share, the Marxist Coordination Committee also fared less than NOTA, followed by CPI (0.9%), Samajwadi party (0.8 per cent), CPI-M (0.5 per cent), NCP (0.3 per cent) and AIFB (0.3 per cent).

However, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party not only fared better than NOTA with 1.8 per cent but also opened its account in Jharkhand assembly for the first time, with its candidate Kushwaha Shivpujan Mehta winning from the Hussainabad seat.

PTI