Rajasthan: NOTA got more votes than 54 parties in 2013

Jaipur, Oct 23: The option of NOTA (None Of The Above) was introduced in the Assembly election in Rajasthan for the first time in 2013 and it did well on debut. Out of 3.02 crore votes polled in the election that year, NOTA received 1.93 per cent of the vote share, a figure which put it ahead of 54 parties that were in the fray. A total of 58 parties contested the elections.

BJP, Congress, NPP and BSP got more votes than NOTA

Only four parties finished ahead of the NOTA in the 2013 Assembly election in Rajasthan and they are: Bharatiya Janata Party (46 per cent), Congress (33.7 per cent), National People's Party (4.3 per cent) and Bahujan Samaj Party (3.4 per cent). The NPP was merged with the BJP earlier this year after Kirori Lal Meena, NPP's state chief and a former BJP leader who left the party in 2008, rejoined the saffron party earlier this year.

Parties like the Communist Party of India, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular) and Nationalist Congress Party - which are known names on India's political landscape, received less votes than NOTA (5,89,923).

Although the NOTA votes haven't changed the final outcome of the elections, but experts believe they act as a reality-checker for all political parties and they should gauge the mood of the voters through it and understand why people have preferred the NOTA option instead of them.

As per reports, there could be a surge in the NOTA votes this year (Rajasthan goes to polls on December 7) which could be an indication of the growing dissatisfaction of the BJP government and the lack of trust on the Opposition.