NOTA outperforms AAP, SP, NCP in legislative Assembly elections: It's a trend that is catching on fast

Representational image. AFP[/caption]Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in October at a gathering had urged voters not to chose NOTA because  by selecting the NOTA option, a voter chooses the "available worst against the available best".In Madhya Pradesh, NOTA polled 1.5 percent of the total counted votes. Samajwadi Party got 1.01 percent while AAP got 0.7 percent votes. The NOTA votes in Rajasthan elections were 1.3 percent. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and SP got 1.2 percent and 0.2 percent votes respectively.The AAP and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) received 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent votes each in the state. In Telangana Vidhan Sabha Assembly polls, NOTA got 1.1 percent of votes while NCP got 0.1 percent of votes. The CPI(M) polled 0.4 percent votes while CPI received 0.4 percent votes.In Mizoram, NOTA got 0.5 percent of votes while People's Represent for Identity and Status of Mizoram (PRISM) got 0.2 percent of votes.In February, 2018 Rajasthan bypolls, where the BJP had suffered a major setback after it lost all three byelections, for two Lok Sabha seats and one assembly seat, to arch-rival Congress, as many as 27,000 voters said no to all candidates. DNA reported, "Their anger and angst can be gauged from the fact that in Alwar parliamentary constituency alone more than 15,000 voters opted for NOTA."NOTA: Right to register negative opinionDebuting in the 2013, NOTA was based on the directive of Supreme Court in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties versus Union of India judgment. India was the 14th country to introduce negative voting, however, it has also been argued that NOTA is not 'the right to reject' all candidates standing in the election, but instead 'the right to register a negative opinion'. This option is based on the principle that "consent requires the ability to withhold consent in an election".