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Residents may take NOTA route again to protest delimitation loss
Delimitation cost the people of Pudukkottai and Ariyalur districts their own MP as all the Assembly segments from both the districts were attached with other Parliamentary constituencies.
By
migrator
migrator
Thiruchirapalli
Voters from both the districts threatened the candidates by opting NOTA during the 2014 general elections as a form of protest to retain their representation in the Parliament. The ground situation in 2019 seems to be the same as the NoTa threat has not waned.
Prospective candidates need to be wary of the NOTA factor as local activists are on an intense campaign to create awareness of the option. In fact, the NOTA could be major villain to many candidates in all the five Lok Sabha constituencies which absorbed the delimited Assembly segments from the two districts.
Earlier, Pudukkottai had six Assembly segments - Aranthangi, Viralimalai, Thirumayam, Alangudi, Gandharvakottai and Pudukkottai. Among the six, Aranthangi has been added to Ramanathapuram LS constituency, while Viralimalai has been listed under Karur. Pudukkottai and Gandharvakottai have been attached with Tiruchy, Alangudi and Thirumayam have been moved to Sivanganga Lok Sabha seat.
Similarly, the three Assembly segments - Kunnam, Ariyalur and Jayankondam – of Ariyalur district were added to Chidambaram constituency.
Soon after the delimitation, voters from both the districts had launched a series of protests and demanded an exclusive Lok Sabha representation. However, their protests went futile as there was no strong political clout available from both the regions.
In a payback to the politicians, voters opted for NOTA, which affected several candidates in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
According to polling data, 10,691 pressed the NOTA button in Pudukkottai district, with the Pudukkottai Assembly segment, which is now with Tiruchy Lok Sabha constituency, recording the highest of 4,406. This was apart from around 30 per cent voters refusing to exercise their franchise.
Similarly, in Ariyalur district – Kunnam, Ariyalur and Jayankondam Assembly constituencies, 5,038 opted for NOTA. In 2014, the total NOTA votes polled in Chidambaram Lok Sabha constituency was 12,138 and the share of NOTA from Ariyalur district was highest.
NOTA route, protest delimitation
Chennai: Apart from names of popular parties and star candidates, another key word that comes into circulation during poll time is the NOTA. As far as TN is concerned, NOTA immediately reminds every one of the RK Nagar by-election in December 2017, where this option got more numbers than the votes polled by the BJP. It was not the first time though that NOTA surpassed a major political party in ballot count in the state.
NOTA or “None of the Above” option, introduced by the Election Commission (EC) in 2013, scored more than PMK in seven constituencies, Tiruvarur, Periyakulam, Manamadurai, Andipatti, Sattur, Paramakudi and Vilathikulam, in 2016 polls and BJP in three constituencies, Tiruvarur, Harur and Sholingur, out of the 18 constituencies that will face bypoll along with the Lok Sabha elections. The only consolation for the PMK is that none of the seats are in their stronghold, the northern districts.
But it was in RK Nagar by-election, the result of NOTA surpassing BJP was widely noticed as it was the first election after the death of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
The growing votes for NOTA indicate that people are disgruntled with the political parties. The interesting fact is, NOTA is getting increasingly popular among the new voters and close to 9 lakh new voters have been added to the voters list. With this addition, NOTA is set to gain more votes in the ensuing bypolls for 18 segments.
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