With the Indore Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrawing his nomination and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the last minute, the constituency went to the polls without a candidate from the INDIA alliance. The Congress then commenced an unusual campaign urging the constituency’s electorate to pick the ‘none of the above’ (NOTA) option in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) accusing the BJP of “murdering democracy”.
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A look at the NOTA vote share recorded in Indore in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections shows that the Congress’ ploy worked. Close to 14 % of the voters chose the NOTA option in 2024, an increase from the 0.31% of such votes polled in 2019 in the seat. The NOTA vote share in 2024 is also much higher than the 2014 share.
Close to two lakh voters chose the NOTA option in Indore in 2024.
Table 1 | The table shows NOTA vote share in Indore constituency across various Lok Sabha polls.
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This said, Indore stood alone. Across India, the NOTA vote share dropped below 1 per cent for the first time since 2014 (when NOTA was introduced for Lok Sabha polls). In 2024, 0.99% of voters voted for NOTA.
Table 2 | The table shows the vote share of NOTA across India in various Lok Sabha polls.
In 2024, NOTA’s vote share increased in 191 seats, decreased in 342 seats, and remained the same in 7 seats -- all relative to the 2019 elections.
Table 3 | The table shows NOTA vote share across India in various Lok Sabha polls
(With inputs from Mehul Malpani)
Published - June 04, 2024 01:07 pm IST
