Thursday's results of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls show that NOTA (None of the above) voters in Kerala have fallen by half as compared to the 2014 general elections.
A total of 2.1 lakh voters opted for NOTA in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in Kerala, whereas in 2019, the number reduced to 1 lakh. This means that more voters have chosen a political leaning. In many constituencies, NOTA votes have gone down drastically.
With 7,722 votes, Alathur polled the highest number of NOTA votes. Remya Haridas, the only woman from Kerala to be elected to Parliament in the 2019 general elections, emerged victorious from the constituency.
Alathur is followed by the constituency Kottayam, with 7,191 NOTA votes.
In 2014, NOTA votes impacted the elections in at least a handful of constituencies in the state. In Kannur and Vadakara, more NOTA votes were cast than vote margins for winning candidates.
In Vadakara, the winning candidate secured a margin of only 3,306 votes, while 6,107 NOTA votes were polled in the constituency. In Kannur as well, NOTA’s share was 7,026 votes while the margin of victory for the winning candidate was only 6,566 votes.
But this year, NOTA failed to make a major impression in the state. Kerala's election was expected to be politically charged due to hot-bed issues, such as the Supreme Court verdict on women's entry into Sabarimala temple, resounding anti-BJP sentiment and Rahul Gandhi's popularity wave.
Meanwhile, Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency is the only exception to the present trend of low NOTA votes in Kerala. When compared with the general election of 2014, more voters in Thiruvananthapuram -- about 4,580 -- opted for the NOTA option. It's important to note that in the previous election, Thiruvanamthapuram held the least NOTA votes (3,346).
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Malappuram had the highest vote share of NOTA with 21,829 votes, followed by Alathur with 21,417 votes.