NOTA second in Indore where Congress candidate switched to BJP at last minute
Results throw light on Surat’s BJP candidate who was elected unopposed without the NOTA option being made available to voters; CEC was queried at presser
None of the Above or NOTA has made its presence felt in the general elections, 2024. Akshay Kanti Bam, a Congress turncoat from Indore in MP, could have hardly reckoned with what had hit him. He left his parent party a day before the elections and joined the BJP.
In retaliation, the Congress asked voters to vote for NOTA. And the voters responded – NOTA is ahead by a sizable 1,11,691 votes in the constituency, the second highest performer after BJP’s Shankar Lalvani.
Indore has been a BJP stronghold since 1989, with former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan its most famous representative, holding the seat for eight consecutive terms.
Mahajan, expressing her displeasure, told PTI that "this should not have happened. The writing is on the wall. This is a BJP stronghold under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bam should not have made this move.”
It threw light on another case last month when the BJP candidate in Surat, Mukesh Dalal, was declared elected even before the first vote was cast for general elections 2024.
It had sparked a massive row, with the Congress alleging that the ruling BJP in Gujarat used "wrong and undue influence" and pressured candidates into withdrawing all nominations against the ruling party candidate. Many others had pointed out that not polling in the constituency was a violation of voters' right as he/she could also opt for the NOTA option.
In response, the Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, told a press conference this week that the poll body can intervene if a candidate is pressured into withdrawing nomination, but not when it's consensual.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar’s Gopalganj (SC) accounted for the most NOTA votes, 51,660. In 2014, Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu got a total of 46, 559 NOTA votes.
NOTA has been provided as an option to the voters in most elections since 2013. By expressing a preference for None of the Above, a citizen can choose not to vote for any candidates who are contesting the elections.
In the PUCL vs. Union of India judgement of 2013, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to include NOTA in elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The option was first used in the 2013 legislative assembly elections held in four states— Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, MP and the Union Territory of Delhi.