At over 1.8 lakh votes, Indore registers highest NOTA count ever

Bhopal: While the BJP is leading in all the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh as per the trends coming out of the Election Commission of India (ECI) data on Tuesday, an interesting phenomenon is being observed in Indore where 1,82,766 voters opted for the NOTA (None of the Above) option (till 1.10 p.m.), setting a new record.

While the BJP's Shankar Lalwani has taken a decisive lead of over 8 lakh votes in Indore, the second-highest votes so far have been counted in favour of NOTA.

NOTA, or the option to express one’s displeasure with every candidate in the fray, was introduced in most Indian elections since 2013.

It should be mentioned here that after the Congress candidate from Indore, Akshay Kanti Bam, withdrew his nomination at the last minute, giving a virtual walk-over to the BJP, the grand old party had carried out a campaign urging the voters to press the NOTA button on polling day.

Not only the Congress, but several BJP leaders were also of the view that having no candidate from the opposition was setting a wrong precedent.

However, across Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is upbeat as their candidates are in the lead in all the 29 seats in the state, including in Chhindwara, the only constituency it lost to the Congress in 2019.