City witnesses three-fold increase in NOTA votes

Sameer Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 23

The number of voters who opted for NOTA (none of the above) in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections saw a significant rise as compared to the previous LS elections. As against 4,701 voters who opted for NOTA in 2014 as many as 13,323 voters opted for the option in 2019, registering almost a three-fold increase in 2019.

The experts from different fields attributed the increase in the number of voters opting for NOTA to people’s dwindling faith in the traditional political parties/candidates. They said it was the outcome of people’s disappointment with successive governments.

Talking to Bathinda Tribune, Jagroop Singh Sekhon, professor of Political Science, GNDU, said, “People’s issues are never the politicians’ issues would be the correct way to define the current scenario wherein more people have started opting for NOTA now.

Three-fold increase from previous LS elections in number of voters opting for NOTA speaks volume about the drastic shift of people’s opinion. Total voter share/percentage has also come down in the state and there are many people/voters who genuinely not interested in exercising their franchise.”

“For now, the trend would barely leave any impact on the poll prospects of political parties or candidates but if it continues with same rate, it might play a significant role in altering political equations in future,” added Sekhon.

He added, “Often, it has been observed that voters who do not have faith in democracy or political parties/candidates or those with extremist leanings tend not to cast their vote. But unlike previous LS elections where youngsters including first time voters had turned up in large number to exercise their franchise, voter turnout of youngsters has remained utterly poor this time (LS-2019).”

Experts are of the opinion that voters who do not want to cast vote used to stay at home previously but ever since NOTA was introduced in 2013, these voters want to come out and opt for NOTA to make their presence felt.

Harmilap Singh Grewal, a social activist in the city, said, “The prime contention of voters opting for NOTA is that successive governments have failed them miserably as major traditional political parties have been contesting elections on same issues which they used to for past seven decades (post-independence) such as eradication of poverty, employment generation and providing basic amenities such as roads, cheaper power and drinking water among others whereas contrary to their poll promises, state of affairs remained unchanged especially at the bottom-rung of society.”

Grewal added, “Such voters do not see a competent third front/political party other than the traditional political parties forming government at the centre so they decide to opt for NOTA. There is a gradual eroding of faith among these voters who want to send out a message that they no longer have trust in any political party or candidate. Agrarian crises have been prevailing for a long time now and politicians of major parties have been digressing from pertinent issues concerning common man.”