Proving everyone who predicted a landslide victory for NOTA wrong, it appears that the people of Delhi preferred for a 'positive vote'.

In the run up to the Delhi Assembly elections, in terms of speculation and hype, the only contender that came anywhere close to matching the attention that was lavished on Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party was neither a candidate not a party. IT was another new entrant in Indian electoral politics -- NOTA, or None Of The Above, the right to reject handed to the voters through a Supreme Court order.

However, as the results unfolded, one thing was clear -- voters in Delhi had no place for NOTA.

So far, according to Election Commission updates, only less than 1 percent votes in Delhi were polled for the NOTA button. In a few constituencies such as Bijwasan, Sangam Vihar, it reached 1 percent.

Proving everyone who predicted a landslide victory for NOTA wrong, it appears that the people of Delhi preferred for a 'positive vote'.

"There is no point wasting a vote using NOTA. It was an opportunity for us to opt for change for the first of its kind election in Delhi," said Vinay Kumar, a voter from Patparganj.

From the reaction of voters, it seems that the rise of AAP has been one of the major reasons why the much debated NOTA had few takers. "The option would have been valid if I had to choose between the bad and the evil. But our minds were made up that our vote would go to AAP," says Harpal, a voter from the New Delhi constituency which is heading towards an unthinkable victory for Arvind Kejriwal over incumbent CM Sheila Dikshit.

The political parties, however, claim that NOTA did, however, create a certain pressure as there was a strong apolitical wave before the election. "The same apolitical wave that has given AAP a leverage could possibly give NOTA a heads-up, but thankfully people preferred to vote for the candidates," said a state BJP leader.

Political analysts believe that in a triangular election and more importantly in an urban election like Delhi, NOTA is redundant. "It was a good move to try it as a pilot project in this election but in an election like Delhi, NOTA is invalid. Here people had enough options to choose from. But it will be useful in states such as West Bengal or UP or Tamil Nadu, where the local people vote for respective candidates under immense pressure from political strongmen," says a journalist cum political analyst.

Now with the final results only an hour away it seems that the Arvind Kejriwal magic not only uprooted the Congress government but it also gave a positive direction to voters.