Panaji: More voters in Goa opted to cast ballots in favour of ‘None of The Above option’ (NOTA), than four regional parties in the state assembly elections.
While 10,919 voters, nearly 1.2 per cent of the total voters, opted for the NOTA button, the Goa Vikas Party won the least number of votes. It contested from four seats and attracted only 5,379 votes, 0.6 per cent of the total votes.
In fact, the NOTA vote-count even betters the combined vote tally of the Goa Suraksha Manch, a regional party mentored by former state RSS chief Subhash Velingkar, which got only 10,745 votes despite contesting in five seats.
The United Goans Party which fielded two candidates in Panaji and St. Cruz received 8,563 votes, while the Goa Suuraj Party which had fielded three candidates could only manage 5,747 votes.
The Congress has emerged as the single-largest party in the state with 17 seats, while the BJP has won 13 seats resulting in a hung assembly.
—IANS