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NOTA voters in Nagpur district almost double as compared to 2014 polls

Nagpur: The appeals made by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other NGOs against using ‘None of The Above or NOTA’ option failed to make any impact on the voters. Many voters have opted for NOTA across all constituencies in Vidarbha in the assembly elections results of which were declared on Thursday.

Against all expectations, Nagpur district with 12 constituencies recorded most number of NOTA votes at 28,496 in Vidarbha’s 11 districts, followed by Amravati at 12,668 and Buldhana at 11,939.

The naxal infested Gadchiroli occupied fourth position at 11,688. In 2014, Gadchiroli hogged limelight after villagers prodded by Maoist had recorded maximum number of NOTA votes.

Nagpur’s tally of NOTA votes is almost doubled from 15,784 in 2014 state polls, which would surely give nightmares to the political leaders. In all, over 1.20 lakh such votes were polled in Vidarbha which shows increasing anger of voters who didn’t find even a single candidate good enough to lead them.

The increasing tally of these votes has also left many contestants behind. In Vidarbha, as many as 428 candidates failed to score above NOTA votes. Nagpur district has highest number of such candidates at 88 followed by Amravati at 56, Yavatmal at 48 and Akola at 42.

Among the constituencies, Aheri from backward Gadchiroli district leads the chart in Vidarbha with as many as 5,735 pressing the last button on EVM. It was followed by Nagpur West where 3,717 opted for it, as they didn’t believed in any of the contestants.

Armori, again in Gadchiroli, is at the third place with 3,650 votes while chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s Nagpur South West Nagpur is at fourth with 3,064 votes. Among the lowest, Dhamangaon Railway in Amravati secured just 788 NOTA votes, followed by Akot in Akola with 857.

In a majority of constituencies, the NOTA was above 1,000 mark with many candidates failing to cross it. The deposits of all such candidates would be forfeited.

Analysts attributed a slew of factors for increase in NOTA votes. This time, its tally increased due to ‘Save Merit Save Nation (SMSN)’ campaign launched by thousands of aggrieved parents and students from open category after the government implemented 12% Maratha and 10% EWS quota. Due to these quotas, the seats of undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses were reduced significantly which led to loss for open category meritorious students, they said.

“We’ve over 30,000 registered members of SMSN whom we had called to opt for NOTA, as the government led by Fadnavis refused to listened to their demands. A majority of us were core BJP voters, but now we’re disappointed by our own party which took decisions to protect its vote banks. Where will our wards go after studying hard for all these years?” an aggrieved parent told TOI.

(With inputs from Prachi Bakshi)

NOTA in numbers

# NOTA votes in Vid & candidates scoring below it

Constituency ------- NOTA ------ Candidates

Bhandara –---------- 5,947 ----------22

Wardha –---------- 6,911 ----------- 23

Gadchiroli –---------- 11,688 ----------- 21

Chandrapur –---------- 10,304 ----------- 38

Gondia –---------- 7,627 ----------- 28

Buldhana –---------- 11,939 ----------- 33

Yavatmal –---------- 11,526 ----------- 48

Washim –---------- 4167 ----------- 29

Akola –---------- 8,833 ----------- 42

Amravati –---------- 12,668 ----------- 56

Nagpur –---------- 28,496 ----------- 88

Total –---------- 1,20,106 ----------- 428

# NOTA votes in 2014

LS polls in India — 59,78,208

LS polls in Maha — 4,83,459

Assembly polls in Maha — 4,82,574

Assembly polls in Vidarbha — 1,04,987

# NOTA votes 2019

LS polls in India — 65,13,000

LS polls in Maha — 4,86,902

Assembly polls in Maha — 7,42,134

Assembly polls in Vid — 1,20,106

2014 & 2019 Nagpur district

Constituency ——————-2014———2019

Nagpur South West ----------– 1,017 ---- 3,064

Nagpur South ----------– 1,276 ---------- 2,353

Nagpur East ----------– 1,051 ---------- 3,460

Nagpur Central ----------– 930 ---------- 2,149

Nagpur West ----------– 1,143 ---------- 3,717

Nagpur North ----------– 734 ---------- 1,986

Katol ----------– 550 ---------- 2,004

Saoner ----------– 2,681 ---------- 1,819

Hingna ----------– 709 ---------- 2,256

Umred ----------– 1,352 ---------- 1,724

Kamptee ----------– 2,962 ---------- 2,347

Ramtek ----------– 1,379 ---------- 1,617

Total ----------– 15,784 ---------- 28,496

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