EVM (symbolic)
– Photo: ANI
Expansion
The result of the Lok Sabha elections on the Gopalganj reserved parliamentary seat has always been in the headlines. Sometimes about the home district of the RJD supremo and sometimes about NOTA. Like the 2019 elections, this time in 2024 also NOTA has made a record. The only difference is that in the last 2019 elections, Gopalganj got the highest NOTA vote across the country, but this time Indore broke this record. However, NOTA maintained its record at the state level this time as well. Gopalganj seat has got the highest votes for NOTA out of 40 seats across the state. Why is this happening, no party or candidate has pondered over it. This time too, reports of vote boycott kept coming before the elections, but the administration and public representatives did not take any notice of it. Even on the day of polling, people boycotted the vote and did not even go to cast their vote at many booths.
Expressed opposition by voting NOTA
Chandrashekhar Pandey, a voter of booth number 367 Primary School Mishrauli located in Bhore assembly of Gopalganj Lok Sabha, said that due to resentment towards the candidates, we protested by voting for NOTA. After the election results came on June 4, NOTA surprised everyone and forced them to think. However, this time NOTA has got 8,797 votes less than the last election. If we look at the data of the election results, NOTA has got 42,863 votes in the 2024 elections. At the same time, NOTA got 51,660 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Since when NOTA was implemented in the country
NOTA was introduced in India on 27 September 2013 following a Supreme Court decision. Its purpose was to discourage political parties from fielding tainted candidates. The NOTA option on the electronic voting machine is available to voters who do not want to support any political candidate. This allows them to exercise their right not to vote without revealing their decision. The increase in the number of NOTA is being speculated to be due to the resentment among voters towards the candidates.