NOTA third most viable option in 13 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar

In one-third of the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar, NOTA emerged as the third most preferred alternative for voters, and the 'None Of The Above' option accounted for two per cent of the total number of valid votes, according to Election Commission data.

Notably, the trend of people opting for NOTA in droves was seen in three of the states reserved seats, where the total number of such constituencies is six.

The trend was also reflected in Araria and Katihar, both of which have a sizeable number of muslim voters and which were lost by sitting MPs from the minority community to a BJP candidate or an NDA nominee with a sangh background.

The reserved seat of Gopalganj saw the highest number of voters (51,660) who opted for NOTA. The seat went to Ajay Kumar Suman of JD(U) who defeated RJDs Surendra Ram by a massive margin of 2.86 lakh votes.

The constituency with the second highest number of NOTA votes (45699) was Pashchim Champaran. It was retained by sitting BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, who defeated RLSPs Brajesh Kushwaha by a staggering margin of 2.93 lakh votes.

The third highest number of NOTA votes, after Gopalganj and Pashchim Champaran, was in Samastipur (35,417), another reserved seat, where Lok Janshakti Partys Ram Chandra Paswan beat nearest Congress rival Ashok Kumar 1.52 lakh votes.

This was followed by Nawada, where NOTA votes (35147) were the third most preferred option for the electorate who had choose between LJPs Chandan Kumar Singh, the brother of a mafia don-turned-politician, and RJDs Vibha Devi, wife of a rape convict, who consequently lost his membership of the state legislative assembly.

Both the candidates were making their debuts and Singh trounced Vibha Devi by a handsome margin of 1.48 lakh votes.

In adjoining Gaya, another reserved seat, where former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi lost to JD(U)s Vijay Manjhi by 1.52 lakh votes, 30,030 people opted for NOTA.

Begusarai had in 2014 registered the highest number (26,622) of NOTA votes, followed by Khagaria (23,868) and Maharajganj (23,404).

In Araria, which BJPs Pradip Singh wrested from RJD MP Sarfaraz Alam, defeating him by 1.38 lakh votes, NOTA accounted for 20,618 votes while Katihar, which Tariq Anwar lost to JD(U)s Dulal Chandra Goswami by a relatively smaller margin of 57,203 votes, 20,584 voters pressed the button next to the None Of the Above option.

Significant number of NOTA votes 22,706 was also registered in adjoining Purvi Champaran which BJP MP and Union minister Radha Mohan Singh has retained, defeating his nearest RLSP rival Akash Prasad Singh by an equally stupendous margin of 2.94 lakh votes.

Other seats where NOTA turned out to be the third most favorite option of voters are Darbhanga, Saran, Bhagalpur and Arrah, Lok Sabha seats.