Buoyed by Red effort? Most prefer NOTA in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR: Amid exceptionally high number of people choosing NOTA option in Chhattisgarh as compared to four other states in the assembly polls, question now being asked is whether it has anything to do with outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) efforts to encourage people to reject all candidates participating in the democratic process.
In the 90 assembly segments, including the Naxalite-dominated areas of tribal Bastar, more than four lakh votes, were polled in the two-phased assembly elections.In constituencies of tribal Bastar region, NOTA polled 78,186 votes, with the highest 10,848 in Chitrakot-ST followed by 9,677 in Dantewada-ST.
Similarly, in tribal areas of Sarguja in north Chhattisgarh, an average 5,000 votes had preferred NOTA option in all eight constituencies, while in three constituencies of tribal Jashpur, the NOTA votes ranged between 4,000 and 5,500.
In Marwahi-ST constituency, from where former chief minister Ajit Jogi's son Amit Jogi was in the fray, 7,115 voters exercised NOTA option. Votes for NOTA were polled in all 90 constituencies.
"In Maoist areas, it is likely that people preferred NOTA option because of the directive by the Naxalites. Maoists can encourage people to opt for NOTA in every elections and can argue at some point of time in future that people in their areas of influence have rejected all candidates participating in the democratic process," said former state election commissioner Sushil Trivedi.
He attributed "first time excitement", particularly among new voters, as the reason for higher votes for NOTA in areas other than in Naxalite-affected areas, as a section of younger generation could have felt that thrill of rejecting all the candidates in the fray. "Besides, there are also cynics in the society, who think that all the candidates are not worth," he added.
Additional director general of police (Naxalite operations) Rajinder Kumar Vij told TOI "As of now, we have no inputs whether the Maoists had directed or encouraged the people in the tribal areas to exercise their franchise on NOTA."
Before elections, there were reports that Maoists were conducting training camps with dummy EVMs in Bastar region to make the people aware about the NOTA option, if at all they decide to go out for vote. These reports also quoted that the rebels were telling people that it was best tool to protest against government's exploitation.
However, Maoists had appealed to people to boycott elections, but they could not enforce it because of the unprecedented security arrangements.