This year in Delhi Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, a rise in NOTA votes were recorded, over 8,300 more than those recorded in the 2017 civic body polls. The state election commission data said 57,545 votes, or 0.78% of the 7335,825 votes polled in the December 4 election. The said record is precisely 8,310 votes more than the 49,235 NOTA votes seen in 2017.
The NOTA vote share in the 2017 municipal election was 0.69% of the 71,36,863 votes polled, a Hindustan Times report said on Wednesday. The NOTA votes recorded were even more than those secured by smaller political parties such as Nationalist Congress Party, Janata Dal (United) or All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), the State Election Commission report showed.
The Aam Aadmi Party won the MCD elections with 134 seats, ending the 15-year rule of the BJP in the civic body. Delhi recorded a voter turnout of 50.48 pc in the high-stakes municipal polls, results of which may have ramifications beyond the national capital.
NOTA votes recorded in the MCD polls this year were even more than those recorded in the 2020 Delhi assembly elections, when NOTA got only 43,108 votes, or about 0.5% of the votes polled.
The smaller parties only fielded candidates from a limited number of seats while NOTA votes were polled across 250 municipal wards. The NCP received a total of 14,890 votes (vote share of 0.20%), AIMIM received 45,628 votes (0.68%) and Janata Dal (United) received 11,480 votes (0.16%).
Back in 2017 when the election was held for the three municipal corporations, the largest portion of NOTA votes (19,762, or 0.74% of votes polled) were cast in North Delhi Municipal Corporation election.
The highest polling (65.72 per cent) in the 2022 MCD polls was recorded in ward no. 5 (Bakhtawarpur), while the lowest voting percentage (33.74 per cent) was registered in ward no.145 (Andrews Ganj), according to data shared by the State Election Commission earlier.
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