Over 1.38 lakh people in Madhya Pradesh's Indore parliamentary constituency pressed the None Of The Above (NOTA) option, according to the latest trends. The number was likely to rise with the counting of votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections still underway.
NOTA, introduced over a decade ago, gives the voter an option to express displeasure with all candidates contesting in a particular seat.
On Tuesday, over 1.38 lakh votes went for None Of The Above until 12:15 PM. It stood second after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Shankar Lalwani, who received over 7.74 lakh votes so far.
Sanjay Solanki of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) stood in the third position with over 32,000 votes.
Incidentally, the Congress had earlier urged people to vote for NOTA after its candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination at the last minute before the polls and joined the ruling BJP.
While speaking to news agency PTI, former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who won from Indore eight times in the past elections, expressed her displeasure at Bam dropping out of the race.
"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 said.
Indore, one of 29 parliamentary constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, covers most of the Indore district and is considered a stronghold of the BJP. Mr Lalwani, who succeeded Sumitra Mahajan from the Indore seat in the 2019 elections, is eyeing a second consecutive term.
Voting for the Indore seat was held on May 13 in the fourth phase of the 2024 elections. It registered a total voter turnout of 61.67%.
As per initial trends, the BJP is leading in all the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh.
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