Among the four states and the Union Territory whose Assembly election results were announced on Thursday, West Bengal has recorded the highest number of votes in the ‘none of the above’ category during the six-phase polls that were held in April and May, reported The Telegraph. According to data furnished by the Election Commission, 1.5% (8,31,845) of the total votes cast in were NOTA.

"I did not want my vote wasted or stolen, nor did I want any of the candidates in Bhowanipore (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's constituency) as my representative,” a 30-year-old, who flew down to Kolkata to cast a NOTA vote, told the English daily. The report also quoted a senior election official saying that this year’s NOTA share has gone up as opposed to the last Assembly election in the state.

The EC data revealed that Tamil Nadu registered 5,60,533 NOTA votes, Assam 1,89,066, Kerala 1,07,239 and Puducherry got 13,240 (1.7%) votes for the option, which is also known as "against all" or a "scratch" vote. Puducherry got the highest number of NOTA votes in terms of percentage.