NOTA is Palghar voters’ No. 3 choice

Palghar: Asserting their right to reject most candidates in the fray for the 17th Lok Sabha elections, 29,479 voters in Palghar hit the none of the above (NOTA) button, making it the third best option in the constituency.Shiv Sena’s Rajendra Gavit received the most votes, at 5,80,479, while the VBA’s Baliram Jadhav got 4,91,596 votes, followed by NOTA at 29,479. This indicates NOTA scored over the other 11 candidates in the running. In some areas, Congress party suffered a setback due to the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi factor. However in several other places, voters appeared to have expressed a marked preference for NOTA. After nine years of efforts by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties, ‘None Of The Above’ (NOTA) became an option for voters on EVM machines in Indian elections.