On 27 September 2013, the Supreme court of India ruled that the right to register a “none of the above” vote in elections should apply, while ordering the Election Commission to provide a button for the same in the electronic voting machines.
“Accordingly, Election Commission of India introduced the NOTA option which is printed in each ballot paper/electronic voting machine.
NOTA enables an eligible voter to vote in spite of not favouring any candidate, It also decreases the chances of proxy voting and changes of illegal voting. It also symbolises the rejection of all the contesting candidate by the voter.
NOTA symbol appears in the last panel on all Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
In the current Nagaland Assembly election, NOTA registered more voters than the official candidate of the Indian national congress.
In 11 rounds of counting, which was done today, NOTA polled more than the INC candidate in 8 rounds, while it was tied with INC candidate in 2 rounds. INC candidate polled more than NOTA in only 1 round of the 11 rounds.
In total, NOTA polled 65 votes while INC candidate polled 14 votes as NOTA polled 51 votes higher than INC Candidate.
This result was observed in 59- Seyochung Sitimi assembly constituency under Kiphire district in general elections for the 15th Nagaland Assembly where Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) candidate and cabinet minister V. Kashiho Sangtam lost to veteran politician C. Kipili Sangtam.
Kipili Sangtam contesting on National People’s Party ticket polled 11,936 votes as he defeated Kashiho Sangtam (11006 votes) by a margin of 930 votes.
