Madhya Pradesh State PCS

• 07 Jun 2024

NOTA Votes

Why in News?

In the recent general elections, Indore registered the highest-ever NOTA (none of the above) votes in the country at 2,18,674.

Key Points

• The NOTA option garnered 16.28% of the total vote cast in the Indore Lok Sabha seat.
  • A total of 5,33,705 voters pressed the NOTA (none of the above) option nationally, with the highest number of 2,18,674 such votes being registered in the Indore seat.
  • The 25.27 lakh eligible voters in Indore, 61.75% exercised their franchise. Of them, 13,43,294 ballots were found valid. Of it, 16.28% of the votes went to NOTA. In 2019, Indore recorded a 69% turnout with 5,045 voters opting for NOTA.
• According to a former Chief Election Commissioner, NOTA has a “symbolic” impact and if it gets more than 50% votes in a seat, only then making it legally effective on election results could be considered.

NOTA

• The NOTA option was introduced for the first time in the general elections in 2014.
• NOTA has no legal consequence attached to it as even if the highest number of votes in a seat are polled for NOTA, the second most successful candidate wins.
  • In Haryana, NOTA has been treated as a fictional candidate.