4.4 lakh people in Gujarat opted for NOTA in Lok Sabha elections

Ahmedabad: The results of 16th Lok Sabha Elections in India were declared on May 16. The early trends indicated the victory of Narendra Modi led BJP in the country. However, the final results were no surprise. BJP managed to attain 282 seats and won in majority without the help of NDA. Modi was fielded from Vadodara in Gujarat and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. BJP won all the seats in Gujarat and surprisingly acquired 72 seats in Uttar Pradesh. While Modi won by a margin of 570128 votes in Vadodara, you will be astonished to know that 4.4 lakh voters in Gujarat opted for 'none of the above' option. The three tribal seats in the state garnered maximum number of NOTA votes. The Lok Sabha seat on eastern tribal belt recorded more than 32000 NOTA votes while constituency near Chotta Udaepur and Valsad got 28800 and 26500 votes. The political analyst Professor PM Patel said 'This is the first time NOTA is being introduced and most educated urban voters are yet to fully understand its role. So, such a trend in tribal areas is surprising and seems to be mostly a result of lack of awareness or cases of listless voters.' Narendra Modi's constituency in Gujarat, Vadodara, recorded 18052 NOTA votes. In the meanwhile, Bharuch and Sabarkantha regions received 23600 and 21500 votes respectively.