Karwar: Voters going for None of the Above (NOTA) option has considerably increased in this assembly elections in Uttara Kannada district.
A total of 11,000 voters picked this option to state that no candidate was eligible to get their votes in the six constituencies in the district. In some constituencies, the votes polled for NOTA was more than the votes polled in favour of the independents.
BJP district unit spokesman Rajesh Naik said, opting NOTA would serve no purpose because it would only indicate that the candidates fielded by political parties were not suitable candidates. But votes would go waste. Therefore, opting NOTA was not a good decision at this moment. The candidates those who polled the highest votes would get elected even if people opted for NOTA. If this was the case, what was the use of opting for NOTA? he asked.
He said, Election Commission (EC) had taken steps to give wide coverage for NOTA, its objective and scope through mass media and social media. Therefore, more people might have opted for NOTA in the assembly election this time.
14 lose deposit
As many as 14 candidates have lost their deposit in three constituencies in the coastal belt in the Uttara Kannada district. Of them, a majority were independents. BJP, Congress and JDS candidates who lost in the elections retained their deposits as they secured the minimum number of votes required to save their deposit.
As per EC rules, each candidate contesting the assembly election has to deposit of Rs 10,000 with the EC. The deposit amount will be Rs 5,000 in case of SC/ST candidates. A defeated candidate, who fails to secure more than one sixth of the valid votes polled in the constituency, will lose his security deposit.
The candidates who lost their deposits are: Karwar - Madhav Naik (NCP, and he got 3,751 votes); Kundabayi Parulekar (RJSP, 1,617); and Kishore Jagannath Savanth ( Independent, 686).
Kumata - Krishna Jatti Gouda (Independent, 5,089); Mohan Baglu Patagar (INCP, 1,274); Nagaraj Naik (MEP, 984); Sumana Hegde (Independent, 758); Prashant Shankar Naik (Independent, 531); Ganesh Gouda (Independent, 412); and Nagaraj Shet (RJSP, 356).
Bhatkal: Gafoorsab (MEP, 1,446); Rajesh Naik (Independent, 944); Abdul Rehaman (Indepndent, 569); and Prakash Pinto (Independent, 527).
As many as 2,359 people opted for NOTA in Karwar. Votes polled for NOTA in other places are: Kumata - 2,182, Bhatkal - 1,986, Sirsi - 1,935, Yallapur - 1,421, and Haliyal - 1,275.