Bihar Election Analysis: NOTA Outperforms 96% Of Parties Despite Dip In Vote Share

Despite a decline in its vote share, the 'None of the Above' (NOTA) option continues to outperform the vast majority of political parties in Bihar's Assembly elections and has played a spoiler in dozens of closely contested seats.

NOTA's Performance In Bihar Elections

In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, NOTA secured 1.7 per cent of the total vote share, amounting to 706,252 votes. While this was a decrease from the 2.4 per cent (947,276 votes) it received in the 2015 elections, it remained a significant force.

In both elections, NOTA received more votes than over 96 per cent of the contesting political parties. In 2020, only eight out of 211 parties surpassed NOTA's vote count. Similarly, in 2015, only six out of 156 parties managed to secure more votes.

Interestingly, several parties that successfully won seats and formed part of the government, such as Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM (0.9 per cent), Mukesh Sahni's VIP (1.5 per cent), and Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM (1.3 per cent), still received a smaller overall vote share than NOTA in 2020.

The 'Spoiler' Effect

NOTA's impact is most visible in constituencies with narrow victory margins.

• In the 2020 election, there were about 30 seats where the winner's margin of victory was less than the number of votes cast for NOTA.
• In 2015, this number stood at 21 seats.

In 2020, on closely contested seats like Hilsa, Bakhri, and Ramgarh, the victory margin was often less than 2,000 votes, while NOTA received two to three times that number, directly influencing the outcome.

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What Is NOTA?

Following a 2013 Supreme Court order, the Election Commission introduced the NOTA ('None of the Above') option on voting machines. This allows a voter to formally reject all candidates in their constituency if they find none of them suitable. The option was first made available to voters in the Bihar Assembly elections in 2015.

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