NOTA gets over 1.7 lakh votes in Indore, breaks previous record of Gopalganj

Bhopal: Following the Congress’ appeal to electors in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore to select the ‘None of the Above’ option, it has so far got more than 1.7 lakh votes in the Lok Sabha seat, breaking the previous NOTA record of Gopalganj in Bihar.

NOTA gives an option to voters to reject all candidates in a constituency.

In the 2019 elections, the Gopalganj Lok Sabha seat in Bihar recorded the maximum NOTA votes at 51,660, about 5 per cent of the total votes polled in the constituency.

As per the latest data available on the EC’s website amid vote counting underway on Tuesday, NOTA has so far got 1,72,798 votes in Indore, the second highest after BJP candidate Shankar Lalwani who got 9,90,698 votes.

All the 13 other candidates in Indore have so far received less votes than NOTA.

Lalwani was ahead of his nearest BSP rival Sanjay Solanki by 9,48,603 votes.

Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress’ Indore candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination on April 29 and subsequently joined the BJP.

The Congress then appealed to the voters in Indore to press the NOTA on the EVMs to teach the BJP “a lesson”.

Following a decision of the Supreme Court, the NOTA option was introduced on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in September 2013.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu recorded 46,559 votes for NOTA, which was then around 5 per cent of the total votes polled in the constituency.

The Congress has been out of poll race in Indore for the first time in this Lok Sabha seat’s 72-year history.

Voting in Indore took place on May 13, with 61.75 per cent of the 25.27 lakh electors exercising their franchise, as per the EC’a data.