Mumbai, October 25: None of the above (NOTA) played a significant role in the recently concluded assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. In Maharashtra’s Latur, NOTA emerged as the runner-up in Latur (rural) and Palus-Kadegaon assembly constituencies. Former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son Dhiraj Deshmukh received 1.33 lakh votes, while his closest rival candidate Shiv Sena’s Sachin Deshmukh got only  13,335 votes. Interestingly, NOTA secured 27,287 votes, the second highest Dhiraj. Assembly Elections 2019 Results: No Cakewalk For BJP, Majority Shrunk in Maharashtra, Realpolitik Needed to Retain Haryana.

Similarly, in Palus-Kadegaon assembly seat Congress candidate Kadam Vishwajeet Patangrao emerged victorious by securing 1.71 lakh votes. Meanwhile, his close contestant of Shiv Sena received only 8,976 votes. However, NOTA got 20,631 votes which is nearly 10 percent of the total votes polled. Haryana Assembly Elections Results 2019 Winners List Live: Names of Winning Candidates of BJP, Congress, INLD, JJP.

Apart from these two seats, NOTA also played an important role in Akkalkuwa assembly seat. Congress candidate KC Padavi defeated Shiv Sena’s Aamshya Fulji by a margin of over 2,096 votes. In this constituency also NOTA secured 4,856 votes.

In Haryana also, NOTA played spoilsport in six constituencies. In Thanesar assembly seat, Subhash Sudha of the BJP defeated Congress's Ashok Kumar Arora by 842 votes, while NOTA received 951 votes. In Sirsa assembly seat, Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party defeated Independent candidate Gokul Setia by 602 votes, while NOTA secured 579 votes. In Ratia also NOTA received 1,086 votes. In this constituency, BJP's Lakshman Napa defeated Congress's Jarnail Singh by 1,216 votes. In Punahana, Kaithal and Badkhal seats people also voted NOTA in large numbers. Maharashtra Assembly Election Results 2019: 15 Independent MLAs Ready to Join BJP, Says Devendra Fadnavis.

Notably, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got fewer votes than those cast in favour of NOTA in the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls. It lost in all the 70 seats it had contested in the two states. The party had fielded candidates in 46 of the 90 seats in Haryana, while in Maharashtra, it had contested 24 seats. In Maharashtra, the party got 0.11 per cent votes, while NOTA's vote share was 1.37 percent. Similarly, The vote share of the AAP stood at 0.48 per cent in Haryana, while for NOTA (none of the above), it was 0.53 percent.

In both Maharashtra and Haryana, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest Party. In Maharashtra, the BJP secured 105 seats, while its alliance partner Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats. Similarly in Haryana, the saffron party won 40 seats. In both the states, the BJP will stake claim to form the government.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 25, 2019 09:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).