Indore: The BJP in Madhya Pradesh has hit out at the Congress for appealing to voters to exercise NOTA option and said it is an attack on democracy, while a councillor of the saffron party here removed a poster stuck on an autorickshaw advocating the same. Councillor Sandhya Yadav’s act on Wednesday prompted the Congress to approach the EC and lodge a complaint against her. State BJP chief V D Sharma said instigating people to press `None Of The Above’ (NOTA) button on the EVM was a crime in democracy.
The Opposition Congress received a jolt after its Lok Sabha poll candidate from Indore, Akshay Kanti Bam, withdrew his nomination on April 29, the last date of the withdrawal of nominations. Bam later joined the BJP, prompting the Congress to appeal to the people to press NOTA during polling in Indore on May 13 to “teach the saffron party a lesson”.
The Congress lodged a complaint with the EC after a video surfaced on social media showing Sandhya Yadav removing a poster of an organisation named `Loktantra Bachao Samiti’ asking people to support NOTA. Asserting she will continue to do so, the BJP councillor said that she fulfilled her “duty of being a conscientious citizen” and removed the poster promoting NOTA from an autorickshaw. Promoting this voting option is not in the interest of democracy, she said.