NOTA Votes And How They Affect Victory-Defeat Equation in Rajasthan Elections

As the contest between BJP and Congress in the assembly election 2023  is quite obvious, the alternative of the ‘NOTA’ button on the ballot box in elections can degrade the equation of victory and defeat on many constituency seats.

NOTA category votes are only counted and not included in any results

However, as we know votes cast under the NOTA category are only counted and not included in any results. Nevertheless, the impact of NOTA affected the results of the last Assembly polls. In the 2018 assembly poll election 4,67,785 people had cast their vote under the ‘NOTA.’ 

This means that 1.65 % of the total cast vote went to the account of NOTA. The victory-defeat difference between BJP and Congress, Rajasthan was only 0.53 per cent. If we go by specific figures it was 1 lakh 89,899 votes.

In the 2018 Assembly poll elections, the difference in win or defeat between BJP and Congress was on a total of 13 constituency seats and it was less than one per cent. The margin of win or lose situation on a total of 23 seats was less than a mere two percent. 

The win-and-lose situation margin was less than 3 per cent on a total of 38 constituency seats.

In this year's assembly poll election it was anticipated that this time too, there will be a tough game on more than 40 constituency seats. In such a condition, the votes cast for ‘NOTA’ may have influenced the equation.