North-West Delhi Records Highest NOTA Votes in Lok Sabha Election Results

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the North-West Delhi constituency emerged with the highest number of ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) votes at 8,984, according to data from the Election Commission. This constituency witnessed a victory for BJP‘s Yogender Chandoliya over Congress‘ Udit Raj by a significant margin of 2,90,849 votes.

The total count of NOTA votes across the seven city seats saw a minor decrease to 45,554 from 45,629 in the 2019 elections. Conversely, the lowest number of NOTA votes was recorded in the New Delhi constituency where BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj competed against AAP‘s Somnath Bharti, with just 4,813 voters selecting this option.

Introduced in EVMs following a Supreme Court verdict in September 2013, the NOTA option allows voters to reject all candidates in the electoral race. In the Chandni Chowk constituency, where BJP’s Praveen Khandelwal secured a win with a lead of 89,325 votes, 5,563 voters opted for NOTA.

Similarly, North-East Delhi, featuring BJP’s Manoj Tiwari against Congress’ Kanhaiya Kumar, saw 5,873 voters choosing the NOTA option. East Delhi and South Delhi constituencies witnessed 5,394 and 5,961 NOTA votes respectively.

West Delhi constituency stood second with 8,699 NOTA votes as AAP’s Mahabal Mishra contended against BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat. Notably, former chief election commissioner O P Rawat described NOTA as having a ‘symbolic’ impact, suggesting that for it to have a legal effect on poll results, it must secure over 50% of the votes in a seat. The threshold for the NOTA option to influence election outcomes remains a subject of debate.

Rawat clarified that even if a staggering majority of votes back the NOTA option but one candidate secures a single vote, that candidate will emerge as the winner. The role and potency of the NOTA provision continue to be scrutinized in the Indian electoral landscape.