Election Results 2024: Congress’ ploy in Indore worked, 1.6 lakh voters opted for NOTA

Election Results 2024: Indore Congress candidate joins BJP last minute, prompting Congress to urge NOTA; NOTA vote share increases in 2024.

With the Indore Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrawing his nomination and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the last minute, the constituency went to the polls without a candidate from the INDIA alliance. The Congress then commenced an unusual campaign urging the constituency’s electorate to pick the ‘none of the above’ (NOTA) option in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) accusing the BJP of “murdering democracy”.

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A look at the NOTA vote share recorded in Indore in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections shows that the Congress’ ploy worked. Close to 14.11 % of the voters chose the NOTA option in 2024, an increase from the 0.31% of such votes polled in 2019. The NOTA vote share in 2024 is also much higher than the 2014 share.

Close to 1.63 lakh voters chose the NOTA option in Indore in 2024. The numbers are based on trends as of 12.40 pm. The story will be updated as more votes get counted.

Table 1 | The table shows NOTA vote share in Indore constituency in various Lok Sabha polls.

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This said, Indore stood alone. Across India, the NOTA vote share dropped below 1 percent for the first time since 2014 (when NOTA was introduced for Lok Sabha polls). In 2024, 0.99% of voters voted for NOTA as of 12.40 pm.