Nagpur: Though the experts dubbed it as a ‘toothless tiger’ with no implications on the election results, the voters in Vidarbha wishfully opted for the None Of The Above (NOTA) option. The NOTA polled more votes than many of the contesting candidates in Lok Sabha (LS) polls 2024.
In 2024 LS elections, 76,405 voters in Vidarbha pressed the last button on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to show their dissatisfaction towards the political parties/candidates contesting the polls. In the previous LS elections, in 2019, the number of NOTA votes was 94,501 which was 18,096 votes more than what it accounted for in the 2024 elections.
Gold Rate
Thursday 09 Jan. 2025
In Nagpur, the number of votes NOTA polled increased as compared to the 2019 election (936 votes). In the 2024 elections, 5,474 Nagpur voters pressed the NOTA button against 4,538 voters NOTA accounted for in the 2019 polls tally.
In Ramtek, in the 2024 elections, the number of votes NOTA polled decreased by 3,985 votes. Ramtek voters accounted for 7,815 votes in the tally against 11,800 in 2019. In Bhandara-Gondia constituency, NOTA finished third with 9,951 voters pressing the last button on the EVMs in the latest elections. In the 2019 polls, 10,412 voters had opted for NOTA. In Amravati, 2,544 voters pressed the NOTA button. Whereas, in Yavatmal-Washim, 9,391 voters opted for NOTA almost thrice the count (3,910) the NOTA polled in 2019 elections.
Following a decision of the Supreme Court, the NOTA option was introduced on the EVMs in September 2013. The need to introduce NOTA was felt to discourage the tainted candidates from contesting the polls. After introduction of NOTA in various elections, the candidates time to time demanded doing away with the option from the EVMs, citing instances of NOTA polling more votes than the margin of victory of a candidate. The option of NOTA sits last after names of all the candidates in the fray, and has the symbol of a ballot paper with a black cross on it.
Voters, who want to show their resentment against the candidates contesting the polls, have an option to press the NOTA button.
