Bihar poll results: Almost equal vote share for Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM and NOTA

GAYA: Statistics can be more than numbers, say experts – sometimes even “funny”. This sentiment appears to capture the voting pattern in Bihar where Asaduddin Owaisi ’s AIMIM and NOTA secured nearly identical vote shares in the just concluded assembly elections. According to figures released on the Election Commission’s official website, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen polled 1.85% of votes while NOTA received 1.81%. The narrow gap has stirred curiosity in political circles. For lawyer-activist Ashok Kumar, the parity between AIMIM and NOTA reflects more than statistics. He argued that voters pressing the AIMIM symbol and those opting for NOTA “did so for almost the same reasons”. Both categories, he said, expressed their disenchantment with mainstream political p