Jammu and Kashmir's recent assembly elections have yielded some surprising results. Nearly 47 percent of contesting candidates, including those from major parties like BJP, PDP, and Apni Party, received fewer votes than the NOTA (None of the Above) option.
This is a significant indicator of voter dissatisfaction, with 84,041 individuals opting for NOTA, and the highest number of 2,662 voters choosing this option in the Dooru assembly constituency in South Kashmir.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Ghulam Ahmed Mir has won this seat by the biggest margin of 29,718 votes. Out of a total of eleven candidates for this seat, only three got more votes than NOTA.
Interestingly in one of the Assembly segments of Jammu district, a former minister and ex-Congress MLA got fewer votes than NOTA. Choudhary Garu Ram, a former minister who contested the Assembly election as a candidate of Democratic Progressive Azad (DPAP) of Ghulam Nabi Azad from the prestigious RS Pura-Jammu South seat got 237 votes while 432 voters in this constituency opted for NOTA.
In the Samba assembly segment, PDP candidate Rajinder Singh Manhas got 318 votes while 330 voters opted for NOTA.
In the 2014 Assembly elections, over 49000 voters had adopted the option of NOTA and in these elections, the number has jumped to 84,041.
In the 2014 Assembly elections in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir out of a total of 73,16,393 voters, including service electors in the state, only one percent or 49,129 people used NOTA.
The elections saw 873 candidates vying for 90 seats, with 40 percent of them being Independents. Major parties like NC, Congress, PDP, BSP, and Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party also fielded candidates. However, 408 candidates polled fewer votes than the NOTA option, with some securing as low as 28 votes.
Interestingly, candidates from all major parties, including BJP, PDP, J&K Apni Party, BSP, and Independents, secured fewer votes than NOTA. In the Inderwal assembly segment, 1,145 voters chose NOTA, surpassing the votes received by candidates from the PDP, BSP, and J&K Apni Party. Similarly, the BJP candidate in the Pampore assembly seat received only 957 votes, compared to 966 NOTA votes.
These elections mark a significant milestone, being the first in Jammu and Kashmir after a 10-year gap. The region has been under Central rule since June 2018, when the PDP-BJP coalition government collapsed. With the National Conference and Congress securing a majority, Omar Abdullah is set to become the next Chief Minister.
