The share of none of the above (NOTA) option went up marginally this time in the Bihar assembly polls as compared to the last elections but is still much lower than 2015, data shared by the Election Commission shows.
After two-phased election held on November 6 and 11, votes are being counted on Friday.
The National Democratic Alliance was set to sweep the Bihar assembly polls, surging ahead in close to 200 out of the total 243 seats, with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as the single largest party with nearly 95 per cent strike rate.
The Mahagathbandhan, which includes the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and three Left parties, was struggling to cross the 35-seat mark.
According to the latest figures, 1.81 per cent or 6,65,870 of the total votes polled went to the NOTA option on electronic voting machines (EVMs) when voting took place for the 243-member House.
Bihar has an electorate of over 7.45 crore. With 66.91 per cent voter turnout, it was the highest since the first Bihar elections in 1951.
As many as 3.51 crore electors turned up at polling stations to cast their vote. Bihar recorded the highest female voter turnout in its history.
In 2020, about 7,06,252 people chose the NOTA option in the assembly election, which worked out to 1.68 per cent of the total votes polled.
The number of people who had chosen NOTA in 2015 was 9.4 lakh out of 3.8 crore people who voted, which comes to 2.48 per cent.
The NOTA option had recorded its lowest percentage share in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Introduced in 2013, the NOTA option on EVMs has its own symbol -- a ballot paper with a black cross across it.
The EC added the NOTA button on EVMs as the last option on the voting panel after a September 2013 Supreme Court order.
Before the apex court's order, those not inclined to vote for any candidate had the option of filling what is popularly called Form 49-O.
But filling out the form at the polling station under Rule 49-O of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, compromised the secrecy of the voter.
The Supreme Court had, however, refused to direct the EC to hold fresh polls if the majority of the electorate exercised the NOTA option while voting.