Not a choice

The None Of The Above ( NOTA ) option, the last button on the EVM, is the last recourse for voters dissatisfied with all the candidates contesting from their constituency. The introduction of the NOTA in the 2014 Lok Sabha election marked a notable shift in India’s electoral landscape. Surprisingly, it emerged as the third most popular choice in 14 out of 26 constituencies in Gujarat , garnering close to 4.54 lakh votes, or 1.76% of the total.

NOTA continued to make waves in the 2019 LS polls, becoming the preferred choice in seven seats. It surpassed the votes for independents and smaller parties and garnered 1.38% of the total votes.

Over a decade ago, recognizing the powerful messaging of a negative vote, the Supreme Court passed a landmark judgment which led to the introduction of the NOTA option in electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Today, the conversation has turned back to NOTA due to a remarkable petition in the Supreme Court, seeking to give the option more teeth by seeking annulment of the election and reelection if NOTA gets more votes than the candidates in a constituency. It also demands that all candidates who poll less than NOTA be barred from contesting for five years.

A negative vote is a call for change, and voters in Gujarat made their voices known loud and clear. In 14 of the 26 constituencies in 2014, NOTA came third. Close to 4.54 lakh voters that year opted for NOTA. In nine constituencies, NOTA fetched between 2% and 3.5% of total votes polled. In 2019, too, it proved to be the most preferred choice after the BJP and the Congress, as NOTA came third in seven LS seats.
NOTA attracted both urban and rural voters in seats including Ahmedabad West, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Anand, Dahod, Vadodara and Chhota Udepur, where NOTA secured the third position in terms of voter preference after the BJP and the Congress candidates.

In Chhota Udepur, NOTA received more votes than the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) and even the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates, who had sizable support. Moreover, in five of these seven seats, namely Rajkot, Anand, Dahod, Chhota Udepur and Vadodara, NOTA had more votes than all the other parties and independents combined. In all, NOTA polled 4 lakh votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which interest ingly included 2,000 NOTA votes polled through ballots.

Gujarat is among the top 10 states in the country for the highest NOTA votes. In 2014, the tribal seat of Dahod had the sixth highest voting under this category in India, polling 32,305 votes or 3.59% of the total votes polled in this seat. It was preceded by Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu), Malkangiri (Odisha), Bastar (Chhattisgarh), Banswara (Rajasthan) and Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh).

Associate professor, school of law, Auro university, Shilpi Sharma, in her paper ‘A Study of Socio-Political Determinants of NOTA’ states: “NOTA voting in Gujarat is more pronounced in rural or tribal areas, possibly because rural residents, with longer-term residence, scrutinize local issues more closely.” The data suggests that caste and class affinity do not significantly influence voting decisions, as voters in reserved constituencies still opt for NOTA, even if no candidate from their caste or tribe is available.

Sharma cites the example of higher NOTA voting from Valsad district, which constitutes reserved assembly constituencies like Vansda, Gandevi, Dharampur, and Kaprada. These constituencies showed higher NOTA percentages than unreserved ones. “Surprisingly, Vadodara’s SC constituency has lower NOTA votes than many unreserved constituencies,” Sharma states in the study.

Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, who had filed the NOTA petition for the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in the Supreme Court, says, “People in tribal and rural belts are driven more by issues that affect their livelihoods so that they will use NOTA more. You will find this sense skewed in highly urban and educated areas. One of the ideal motives, why we fought for NOTA, was to curb criminal elements and those amassing wealth from entering politics and restore people’s faith in the electoral process.”

He adds, “NOTA is neither rejection nor a negative vote, as it is being called. A voter has the right to say ‘yes’, and they have the right to say ‘no’. You cannot take away my right to say no.”