Naxal-hit Gadchiroli-Chimur polls maximum No. of NOTA votes in state

Afflicted by malnutrition and high child-mortality, northwest district of Nandurbar is one of most backward constituencies of Maharashtra.

As 4.32 lakh voters in Maharashtra chose to go with the ‘None Of The Above’ (NOTA) option, introduced on the electronic voting machines for the first time in a parliamentary election, the maximum number of protest votes in the state were cast in three of the four reserved Schedule Tribes (ST) seats.

Of the 48 Lok Sabha seats, the Naxal-affected ST seat of Gadchiroli-Chimur polled in the maximum number of NOTA votes at 24,479, followed by ST seats of Nandurbar and Palghar which registered over 21,000 NOTA votes each. The fourth reserved ST seat, that of Dindori in Nashik, has the 10 highest number of NOTA votes.

Afflicted by malnutrition and high child-mortality, northwest district of Nandurbar is one of most backward constituencies of Maharashtra.

While the BJP candidate Heena Gavit, daughter of expelled NCP leader Vijay Kumar Gavit, trounced the sitting MP Manikrao Gavit
in this Congress stronghold of over four years, NOTA was the third runner-up in this seat, polling in more votes than the BSP and
Aam Aadmi Party candidate put together.

“Several grassroots organizations felt that no political party deserved their votes as for the last eight years since the Forest Rights Act came into being to give tribals right to the land they tilled, nothing has been done to ensure that the right is enforced,” said Pratibha Shinde, well-known tribal activist from Nandurbar.

Palghar in the coastal Konkan region is another reserved ST Lok Sabha seat that is plagued by severe malnutrition.

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