NOTA clocks more votes than independent candidates in Ludhiana West bypoll
According to figures released by the Election Commission of India (ECI), a total of 793 voters pressed the NOTA button, accounting for 0.87% of the total vote share
In a clear display of public discontent, voters in Ludhiana West bypoll preferred the ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option over all eight independent candidates and two regional parties Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and the National Lok Seva Party (NLSP), registering a strong disapproval for lesser known political alternatives.
According to figures released by the Election Commission of India (ECI), a total of 793 voters pressed the NOTA button, accounting for 0.87% of the total vote share. This is slightly more than the combined votes received by all the eight Independent candidates in the fray, which stood at a mere 776.
Notably, in this four-cornered contest dominated by mainstream political parties, NOTA emerged as the fifth most preferred option among the voters, ranking just behind the main contenders such as AAP, Congress, BJP, and SAD.
Among the prominent candidates, AAP’s Sanjeev Arora secured a large win with 35,179 votes, followed by Bharat Bhushan Ashu of the Congress who garnered 24,542 votes. BJP’s Jiwan Gupta polled 20,323 votes, while SAD’s nominee Parupkar Singh Ghuman stood fourth with 8,203 votes.
In contrast, independent and small party candidates miserably failed to make an impact. Albert Dua Anu was the highest vote-getter among them, receiving just 280 votes out of total 90,160 which accounts for just 0.31% of total vote share. He was followed by Jatinder Kumar Sharma of the National Lok Seva Party with 173 votes (0.19%) and Navneet Kumar Gopi of SAD (A), who got 171 votes (0.18%).
In addition to this, the performances of other independent candidates also remain negligible, where they struggled to cross even 0.2% mark. Among these, social media personality Neetu Shutteranwala polled 112 votes whereas the sole woman candidate in this fray, Renu, secured just 108 votes.
The most educated candidate in the contest, Baldev Raj Katna, a postgraduate in electrical engineering, polled a mere 102 votes, and Rajesh Sharma received 87.
At the bottom of the list remain Pawandeep Singh (39 votes), Paramjit Singh Bharaj (27 votes), and Gurdeep Kahlon (21 votes), each drawing less than 0.05% of the total vote share.
The NOTA option on EVM machines, was introduced in 2013 which allows voters to officially record their dissatisfaction by choosing not to vote for any of the candidates on the ballot.
