In the recent Lok Sabha elections in Indore constituency, the None of the Above (NOTA) option received a significant number of votes, totaling 202,212. This placed NOTA in second position, just behind the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Shankar Lalwani, who secured 1,160,627 votes. The Congress party had encouraged voters to choose NOTA after their candidate withdrew from the race and joined the BJP, leading to a protest by the Congress urging supporters to opt for NOTA. However, it is important to note that despite receiving the highest number of votes, the NOTA option does not hold any electoral value, as the candidate with the most remaining votes is declared the winner.
According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), the Gopalganj (SC) constituency in Bihar recorded the highest number of NOTA votes in the Lok Sabha elections, reaching 51,660 votes by noon. In state assembly elections, NOTA has also gained significant support, receiving the highest percentage of votes in 2020. In Bihar and NCT Delhi combined, NOTA accounted for 1.46% of the total votes, amounting to 749,360 votes out of 7,06,252 votes in Bihar and 43,108 votes in NCT Delhi. Overall, a staggering 129 million votes have been cast for NOTA in the past five years across state and general elections, as reported by ADR and NEW in August 2022.
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