As the counting for the Lok Sabha elections is underway in the country, interesting trend emerges in Indore Lok Sabha seat with NOTA creating a record with 2.18 lakh votes polled.
Of the total voters, 14.01 per cent opted for 'None of the Above'. Notably, Indore Lok Sabha seat became a hot topic before the polling phases started as Congress’ candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination on April 29. In was the last day to withdraw the nomination.
Later, Bam joined the BJP. With no possibility to contest the constituency, Congress urged voters to opt for NOTA during polling in Indore on May 13, to prevent BJP from getting a walkover.
NOTA as an option
NOTA was introduced in 2013 following an order of the Supreme Court. Earlier in 2019, Bihar's Gopalganj had created a record with 51,660 voters (5 per cent) t, opting for the NOTA option. As per the trends on EC website, over 4.62 lakh voters opted for NOTA till 3:15 PM.
In 2019 general elections, 65,14,558 (1.06 per cent) votes of total 61,31,33,300 votes were polled for NOTA. Similarly in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 60,02,942 (1.08 per cent) votes out of total 55,38,02,946 votes were polled for NOTA.
NOTA hold only symbolic impact
Apparent;y, NOTA only has a symbolic impact on the elections and does not affects its outcome. According to former Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat, if NOTA gets more than 50 per cent votes in a seat, only then making it legally effective on poll results could be considered.
"More than 50 per cent electors will have to once opt for NOTA in a seat to show the political community that they do not consider candidates with criminal background or other undeserving ones worthy of their votes. Only after this, pressure on Parliament and the Election Commission will increase and they will have to think about changing laws to make NOTA effective on the election results," he said.
(With PTI Inputs)
ALSO READ | Madhya Pradesh Lok Sabha Election Results: List of constituency-wise leading/winning candidates, parties
