At almost 9k, North West records max NOTA votes

NEW DELHI: Of the 45,554 ‘None of the above’ (NOTA) votes cast in the seven city seats in Lok Sabha elections, the North West Delhi constituency recorded the highest number of such votes at 8,984, the Election Commission data shows.
In the constituency, BJP’s Yogender Chandoliya won by a margin of 2,90,849 votes against Congress’ Udit Raj.
This election, however, saw a negligible dip in the total number of NOTA votes to 45,554 from 45,629 in 2019.
The lowest count of NOTA votes were cast in the New Delhi constituency where BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj was pitted against AAP’s Somnath Bharti. A total of 4,813 voters in the constituency opted for this option.
NOTA gives voters the choice to reject all candidates in the fray. It was incorporated into the electronic voting machines (EVM) in September 2013, following a Supreme Court order.
In the Chandni Chowk constituency, where BJP’s Praveen Khandelwal won with a lead of 89,325 votes, 5,563 electors opted for NOTA.
In North East Delhi, where two Purvanchali faces — BJP’s Manoj Tiwari and Congress’ Kanhaiya Kumar — were in a direct fight, 5,873 voters selected NOTA.
The figure was almost close in East Delhi constituency where 5,394 voters opted for the NOTA option, while 5,961 voters did the same in South Delhi constituency.
The second highest NOTA votes were cast in West Delhi constituency — 8,699 votes — where AAP’s Mahabal Mishra was contesting against BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat.
Former CEC OP Rawat had recently described NOTA as having a “symbolic” impact. PTI