MP: NOTA creates record in Indore seat

New Delhi: 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 on Tuesday.

Of the total voters, 14.01 per cent opted for ‘None of the Above’, which was 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.

As per the latest trends available on the Election Commission’s website at 3.15 PM, over 4.62 lakh (0.99 per cent of the total voters opted for NOTA.

Out of 61,31,33,300 votes polled in the 2019 polls, 65,14,558 (1.06 per cent) were polled for NOTA.

Similarly in 2014 parliamentary elections, out of 55,38,02,946 votes polled, 60,02,942 (1.08 per cent) were polled for NOTA.

The Congress had received a jolt in the Indore Lok Sabha seat after its candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination on April 29, the last date for the withdrawal of nominations.

Bam later joined the BJP, prompting the Congress to appeal to the people to press the NOTA option on EVMs during polling in Indore on May 13.

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.