Araku polls second highest NOTA votes in country, again

Visakhapatnam: Araku Lok Sabha constituency (ST) in Andhra Pradesh secured the second-highest number of NOTA (None of the Above) votes in the 2024 elections. With 50,470 electors opting for NOTA, Araku trailed only behind Indore, which recorded a staggering 2.18 lakh NOTA votes. It may be mentioned here that Araku ranked second in the country in NOTA category in 2019 too.
Factors such as illiteracy, lack of awareness over usage of electronic voting machines (EVMs), and infrastructural inadequacies may be contributing to the growing preference for NOTA option in this tribal dominated constituency.Interestingly, NOTA votes in Araku increased by about 2,500 in 2024 compared to the previous election (47,977 NOTA votes).

For electors of some hamlets of Araku, it takes hours of trekking to reach the nearest polling station. Their everyday struggles for basic infrastructure and medical facilities, coupled with polling day challenges, may be forcing them to cast their votes for NOTA. It is also believed that lack of awareness over the usage of EVMs may be one of the reasons for this trend.
After Indore and Araku, Nabarangpur (Odisha) and Gopalganj (Bihar) stood in third and fourth places in NOTA votes in the 2024 elections. Majority of the top 10 NOTA-polled constituencies in the country in 2024 are SC/ST reserved constituencies. In some of these constituencies, if NOTA votes had been cast for another candidate or the winning candidates, the results would have been different. For instance, Araku MP G Thanuja Rani of YSRCP won by a margin of 50,508 votes over BJP’s Kothapalli Geetha. Even if some 60% of the 50,470 NOTA votes polled in Araku had gone in favour of Geetha, things may have tilted in her favour.
In fact, several Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh garnered over 20,000 NOTA votes in the recent elections, including Srikakulam (24,605), Vizianagaram (23,250), Eluru (22,515), Anakapalli (26,235), and Rajahmundry (24,435). Urban Lok Sabha segments fared better than rural constituencies. Vizag, which has the highest number of electorate among all Lok Sabha segments in AP, recorded only 5,313 NOTA votes, the lowest among the 25 segments. Similarly, Guntur and Vijayawada recorded 7,387 and 9,193 NOTA votes, respectively. Vizag, Guntur, and Vijayawada are the only three constituencies that recorded less than 10,000 NOTA votes.
CPM leader K Govinda Rao from Araku said they conducted several awareness campaigns on the usage of EVMs ahead of the 2024 elections. “But 50,000 people still opting for NOTA in Araku may indicate their hidden anger and dissent towards successive governments. The fate of tribals in this part of the country has not changed much even after seven decades of Independence,” he said.