4.62 lakh votes & a record: NOTA scored big in Lok Sabha polls, most in Bihar, MP

The BJP-led NDA has secured a majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by winning 292 seats with the BJP alone securing 240 seats. BJP allies Telugu Desam and JD(U) secured 16 and 12 seats respectively. The I.N.D.I.A bloc has bagged over 200 seats in which the share of the Congress is 99 seats. Samajwadi Party got 37 seats, Trinamool Congress 29 while DMK managed to win 22 seats.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, approximately one per cent of voters selected the NOTA (None of the Above) option on electronic voting machines (EVMs). Bihar recorded the highest number of NOTA votes among the major states, with 2.07% of the voters opting for this option. Madhya Pradesh followed with 1.41% of voters choosing NOTA.

The NOTA option, introduced in October 2013 following a Supreme Court order on September 27, 2013, allows voters to express their decision not to support any candidate while still exercising their right to vote.

NOTA created a record with 2.18 lakh voters in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore opting for the ‘none of the above’ option in the Lok Sabha elections, counting for which is underway on Tuesday. The BJP candidate Shankar Lalwani has won in Indore with a huge 10.09 lakh margin. His nearest competitor was NOTA, with 2,18,674 votes.

In the 2019 parliamentary polls, voters in Bihar’s Gopalganj had created a record with 51,660 of them, or five per cent, opting for the NOTA option, which is placed as the last option on the electronic voting machine.

As per the latest trends available on the Election Commission’s website at 3.15 PM, over 4.62 lakh (0.99 per cent of the total voters opted for NOTA. Out of 61,31,33,300 votes polled in the 2019 polls, 65,14,558 (1.06 per cent) were polled for NOTA. Similarly, in 2014 parliamentary elections, out of 55,38,02,946 votes polled, 60,02,942 (1.08 per cent) were polled for NOTA.

Meanwhile, the BJP has called a meeting of the NDA parties in New Delhi today at 4 pm. JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, who is set to become the next Andhra Pradesh chief minister are expected to attend the meeting. Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Chirag Paswan has won 5 seats. He will also attend the meet.

The Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc will also hold a meeting today at 6 PM to chalk out its next steps.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the INDIA alliance will decide on its Prime Ministerial candidate in its meeting.  The Congress, which is part of the opposition INDIA bloc, won 99 seats compared to 52 it won in 2019, eating into the BJP’s share in Rajasthan and Haryana.