Kendrapara: The sharp increase in NOTA (none of the above) votes witnessed in the last Lok Sabha elections in Kendrapara have become a hot topic of discussion. In the last Lok Sabha elections 6,588 persons pressed the NOTA button.
In fact NOTA registered more hits than SP’s Rabindra Nath Behera (5,138 votes), Srikant Samal of Krupa Party (1,868), and independent candidate Santosh Kumar Patra (2,281). Sources informed here Wednesday that other than the BJD, BJP, and the Congress, NOTA registered the maximum number of hits on the EVM machines. Political analysts are concerned with this development. They said it is a simmering discontent among the electorate for the political leaders. They opined that with problems galore in the district and no efforts to solve them, the NOTA votes will only increase in the upcoming polls. The Kendrapara Lok Sabha segment comprises of five Assembly constituencies in Kendrapara district and two – Salipur and Mahanga — in Cuttack district.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections a total of 12,38,488 persons pressed the button on EVM machines to exercise their electoral rights. Sources said that in most of the seven Assembly constituencies, NOTA had received more hits than the fringe parties and independent candidates. Voters have the right to press the NOTA button if they find none of the candidates suitable.
With more than 6,500 votes cast in NOTA’s favour, it just shows that people are losing faith in the various political parties and their leaders, locals opined. Advocate Bidhu Bhushan Mohapatra said this development indicates the ire of the people towards politicians. Social activist Ganesh Chandra Samal pointed out that a large chunk of the people who pressed the NOTA button in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were from Aul, Rajnagar, and Rajkanika. He pointed out that people in these areas have been demanding proper roads for many years. As it did not happen, they vented their anger by pressing the NOTA button.
Many others pointed out that Kendrapara since the past decade has been besieged with a lot of problems, the major ones being migration from Bangladesh, lack of irrigation facilities, and the improper implementation of government welfare schemes. They added that the number of people using the NOTA button will substantially grow. Prasant Kumar Nayak, a social activist stated that people who get less votes than NOTA should be barred from participating in polls in the future. “They contest the elections as a gimmick to achieve instant fame.
However, they do not realise that they increase the electoral costs. Hence such people should be prevented from contesting the elections,” Nayak said. Whatever, it may be, the NOTA votes will certainly lead to creased foreheads of the contesting candidates in the upcoming elections. It remains to be seen, the solutions they have to offer.