60 lakh voters chose NOTA, Puducherry tops

Close to 60 lakh voters opted for the None of The Above option across the country while exercising their franchise in the 16th Lok Sabha polls, with the maximum percentage of the electorate going for this choice in Puducherry.

As per data updated till 11.20 pm on Friday, the NOTA vote share stood at 1.1 per cent of the total votes polled, which boils down to a total of 59,78,208 votes.

A total of three per cent of voters in Puducherry, or 22,268 votes, opted for NOTA. This was followed by Meghalaya with 2.8 per cent (30,145), Gujarat 1.8 per cent (4,54,880), Chhattisgarh 1.8 per cent (2,24,889), Dadra and Nagar Haveli 1.8 per cent (2,962).

The other states included: Odisha 1.6 per cent (3,28,060), Bihar 1.6 per cent (5,76,348), Mizoram 1.5 per cent (6,495), Jharkhand 1.5 per cent (1,90,241), Daman and Diu 1.5 per cent (1,316), Madhya Pradesh 1.3 per cent (3,91,837), Sikkim 1.4 per cent (4,259), Tamil Nadu 1.4 per cent (5,74,712).

Also, Tripura 1.2 per cent (23,783), Kerala 1.2 per cent (2,10,561), Goa 1.2 per cent (10,103), Rajasthan 1.2 per cent (3,27,902), Uttarakhand 1.1 per cent (48,043), West Bengal 1.1 per cent (5,68,276), and Arunachal Pradesh 1.1 per cent (6,216), Assam 1.0 per cent (1,47,057), Maharashtra 0.9 per cent (4,32,181), Himachal Pradesh 0.9 per cent (29,156) and Delhi 0.5 per cent (39,690), were among other states where NOTA was exercised.