Indore: NOTA created a record with 2.18 lakh voters in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore opting for the ‘none of the above’ option in the Lok Sabha elections, counting for which is underway Tuesday.
Of the total voters, 14.01 per cent opted for ‘None of the Above’, introduced in 2013 following a Supreme Court order.
In the 2019 parliamentary polls, voters in Bihar’s Gopalganj had created a record with 51,660 of them, or five per cent, opting for the NOTA option, which is placed as the last option on the electronic voting machine.
In 2014, NOTA polled 46,559 votes in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu by pocketing nearly five per cent of votes.
The tally of NOTA votes in Indore stood at 2,18,674 Tuesday when BJP’s sitting MP from Indore, Shankar Lalwani, won by a potentially record margin of 11,75,092 votes, as per the Election Commission of India website.
Lalwani’s nearest rival from BSP, Lakshman Solanki, bagged 51,659 votes.
Notably, the NOTA call was given by Congress after its candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew from the Indore poll fray at the last moment, a move that forced Congress out of the contest from this prestigious seat. Bam later joined the BJP.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Indore recorded a 69 per cent turnout with 5,045 voters opting for NOTA
Former Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat had recently described NOTA as having a “symbolic” impact and had said if it gets more than 50 per cent votes in a seat, only then making it legally effective on poll results could be considered.
Rawat had also told PTI that if 99 out of 100 votes go in favour of NOTA option and someone gets one vote, even then the candidate will emerge victorious.
“More than 50 per cent of electors will have to once opt for NOTA in a seat to show the political community that they do not consider candidates with criminal background or other undeserving ones worthy of their votes. Only after this, pressure on Parliament and the Election Commission will increase and they will have to think about changing laws to make NOTA effective on the election results,” he said.