NOTE or NOTA?

The General Elections in Telangana region have been just concluded. Nalgonda district stood on the first place with 81% of polled votes, while Hyderabad remained at the last position with 53% of polled votes. It noticeably indicates the fact that the urban voters are lacklustre to vote as compared to the semi-urban and rural voters.

The analysis of the polled votes gives us the other side of invent - the influence of currency (notes) - in the rural and semi-urban areas which is reportedly not flagrant in urban areas. Most of the urban voters preferred to choose NOTA (None of the above) as their option in the polls, according to a study. If it was the case, as far as they were concerned, their choice couldn’t have any upshot as such, for NOTA would be considered only for the percentage of votes and not for deciding the winning factor of any candidate. If such was the case, no voter ever would like to take any pain which do not bring them any gain in turn. Such a thing might be the motive for the less percentage of polls in Hyderabad and other urban areas like Ranga Reddy district.

From the other end, the rural and semi-urban voters have been allegedly allured in many ways by the contenders. Bowing to the acceptance of gifts in various forms (mostly in the form of currency NOTEs), the voters in these areas were compelled to cast their vote by hook or crook.

So, it was a game between “NOTE and NOTA”, for sure. Many of the urban voters have reportedly chosen to vote for NOTA even though it will not directly have any impact on the winning chances of the candidates.