Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The NOTA (None of The Above) option has surprised many as it stood at third place in two assembly constituencies and at fourth in one. NOTA votes could have also changed the results of Jobat assembly constituency, as per the records shown by the election commission website.
In Jobat assembly, BJP’s Sulochna Rawat won by garnering 68,949 votes while Congress Mahesh Patel remained second with 62,845 votes. NOTA stood third with 5,611 votes. Dal Singh Dawar of Samta Samadhan Party who stood fourth got 2,645 votes. The Congress candidate lost the election by a margin of 6,104 votes.
Local poll analysts from Alirajpur district say that had Congress candidate worked a little harder, he could have converted the NOTA votes in his favour.
Similarly, in Prithvipur, Motilal Kushwaha of Samajwadi Party stood third and got 1181 votes whereas NOTA got 1741 votes and ranked third.
In the Raigaon assembly, NOTA ranked fourth with 1436 votes. Independent candidate Ram Naresh garnered 1641 votes and remained at third place.
NOTA also performed well in Khandwa Lok Sabha where it breached 15,000 votes mark after winner and runner up candidates. NOTA ranked fifth as besides main contenders only two candidates Darasingh Patel and Harisingh Gurjar garnered over 17,000. Here NOTA scored 13,653 votes.