NOTA Most Popular In Bihar, 8 Lakh Shun Parties

In 17 constituencies in the State, its share was more than 2%

- Devesh K. Pandey

Bihar registered the highest NOTA, or none of the above, votes at about 8 lakh, with the highest share of 5.04% reported from the Gopalganj constituency, according to the Election Commission.

In Gopalganj, 51,660 voters rejected all the candidates. Neelanjan Sircar, a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, said the constituency had a large migrant population.

The high NOTA percentage could be an indicator that people were frustrated with the state of affairs in their constituency and did not find any of the candidates worthy enough.

In 17 constituencies of Bihar, the NOTA vote share was above 2%. While in Paschim Champaran, the figure stood at 4.51%, it was 4.16% in Jamui and 4.73% in Nawada.