New Delhi:NOTA or None of the Above, the option to express one’s displeasure with every candidate was introduced in most Indian elections since 2013. On June 4, 2024, NOTA was in fine form in Indore in Madhya Pradesh by 11:12AM, a little over 90,000 voters had voted for none of the above. In fact, it was the second highest performer after Shankhar Lalwani (468503), the BJP candidate.The third-highest number of votes was for Sanjay Solanki of BSP who has so far managed 20104 votes.
Incidentally, Congress had urged its voters to vote for NOTA . Before the election, Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination and joined the BJP. Former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who had won from Indore eight times in the past had also expressed her displeasure at the Opposition candidate dropping out and had said: “I was surprised to know about the withdrawal of the nomination of the main opposition party candidate in Indore… This should not have happened. There was no need for this development as it was written on the wall that nobody can defeat the BJP in Indore.” She had told PTI: “I explained to them that BJP has done nothing in this regard and that, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party is sticking to its core ideology and our candidate (Mr Lalwani) is in the fray, so they should vote for BJP instead of NOTA.”
Indore Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 29 constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, covering most of the Indore district. The seat has been a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 1989. Currently, Shankar Lalwani is the Member of Parliament, succeeding Sumitra Mahajan, who held the seat for eight consecutive terms and also served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019. The 2024 Lok Sabha election for Indore took place on May 13 during the fourth phase of the elections, with a voter turnout of 61.67%. Read more.
Incidentally, Congress had urged its voters to vote for NOTA . Before the election, Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination and joined the BJP. Former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who had won from Indore eight times in the past had also expressed her displeasure at the Opposition candidate dropping out and had said: “I was surprised to know about the withdrawal of the nomination of the main opposition party candidate in Indore… This should not have happened. There was no need for this development as it was written on the wall that nobody can defeat the BJP in Indore.” She had told PTI: “I explained to them that BJP has done nothing in this regard and that, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party is sticking to its core ideology and our candidate (Mr Lalwani) is in the fray, so they should vote for BJP instead of NOTA.”
Indore Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 29 constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, covering most of the Indore district. The seat has been a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 1989. Currently, Shankar Lalwani is the Member of Parliament, succeeding Sumitra Mahajan, who held the seat for eight consecutive terms and also served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019. The 2024 Lok Sabha election for Indore took place on May 13 during the fourth phase of the elections, with a voter turnout of 61.67%. Read more.
NOTA performances in the past
Lok Sabha Elections
Assembly Elections
In 2019, Bihar’s Gopalganj (SC) accounted for the most NOTA votes adding up to a total of 51,660 votes. The constituency saw JD(U)’s Dr Alok Kumar Suman win with 5,68,160 votes. In 2014, Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu got the highest number of NOTA votes with 46,559.