NOTA votes see big drop in Himachal Assembly polls.

• A fewer voters opted for the NOTA option this time. In the 2017 Assembly polls, 34,232 voters (0.9% of the votes polled) had pressed NOTA but this time only 24,861 voters (0.6%) exercised the option.
• The NOTA appear to have made a difference on three seats of Bhoranj, Shillai and Naina Devi where these votes were higher than the victory margin.
• The highest NOTA votes (669) were polled in Baijnath. The other seats to receive over 500 NOTA votes were Solan (634), Nalagarh (590), Darang (579), Chopal (550), Chamba (539), Shillai (525) and Anni (520).

What is NOTA?

• None Of The Above (NOTA) is a ballot option designed to allow the voter to indicate disapproval of all of the candidates in a voting system.
• It was introduced in India following the 2013 Supreme Court directive in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India judgment.
• However, NOTA in India does not provide for a ‘right to reject’.
• The candidate with the maximum votes wins the election irrespective of the number of NOTA votes polled.