NOTA Becomes the Center of Controversy in Indore Lok Sabha Constituency
NOTA Becomes a Political Weapon in Indore Lok Sabha Elections
Indore, May 12, 2024 - The Congress party’s appeal to voters in the Indore Lok Sabha constituency to select the None of The Above (NOTA) option on the polling day on May 13 has sparked a fierce war of words between the Opposition party and the ruling BJP on social media.
The Congress’ appeal came in the wake of the last-minute withdrawal of nomination by the party candidate Akshay Kanti Bam on April 29, who subsequently joined the BJP.
In response, the BJP has urged voters to reject the NOTA option and re-elect party MP Shankar Lalwani by a significant margin. The BJP has been victorious in the Indore parliamentary constituency for the past 35 years and is aiming for a victory margin of at least 8 lakh votes this time.
The Congress is targeting the BJP with the slogan “Note ka Jawab Nota”, to which the saffron party has retorted, “Your coin is counterfeit”.
Madhya Pradesh Minister Tulsi Silawat has uploaded a speech by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, in which Bhagwat appears to discourage the use of NOTA.
State Congress president Jitu Patwari stated that even though the party candidate is not in the fray, Congress workers should consider NOTA as their nominee.
In response, MP BJP chief VD Sharma said, “Your candidate voluntarily withdrew his nomination papers at the last moment. People are not stupid. Your coin is counterfeit and you are asking the public to vote for NOTA. This won’t prevail.”
Notably, Lalwani had defeated his nearest Congress rival by 5.47 lakh votes in the 2019 elections. A total of 14 candidates are in the fray from Indore, which has 25.13 lakh eligible voters. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Indore recorded a 69 per cent polling when 5,045 voters had opted for NOTA.
The political drama continues to unfold as the polling day approaches, with the NOTA option becoming a significant point of contention between the two major parties.
