NEW DELHI: Over 43,000 votes in the just-concluded Delhi Assembly polls were cast in the None of the Above (NOTA) category, according to official figures released on Tuesday. Counting of votes were held on Tuesday after the elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly.
The election, largely seen as a battle between the AAP and the BJP, was held on Saturday, sealing the fate of 672 candidates — 593 men and 79 women. The final voter turnout was 62.59 per cent, five per cent less than 2015.
The votes polled under NOTA category — 43,108 — constituted about 0.5 per cent of total votes polled, as per the figures released by the Election Commission on its website.
According to the final votes tally released by the EC, the AAP, in a near-repeat performance of 2015, won in 62 constituencies with a voting percentage of 53.57, while the BJP got eight seats with vote share of 38.51 per cent. The Congress drew a blank for the second successive assembly elections in Delhi.
In the 2015 Delhi elections, the NOTA vote percentage had stood at 0.4 per cent of the total votes cast. The AAP had swept the polls with 67 seats.
After the Supreme Court order in September 2013, the EC added NOTA button on the Electronic Voting Machines as the last option on the voting panel. PTI