Delhi MCD Polls: NOTA votes rise by 8,300 in municipal elections this year

Delhi MCD Polls: According to data released by the state election commission (SEC) in Delhi on Wednesday, around 8,000 more people chose to cast their votes for none as None Of The Above (NOTA) votes rise by 8,300 in the recently concluded Delhi municipal corporation election than in 2017. There were 49,235 votes which were for NOTA in 2017. However, this year, it has reached the mark and there has been witnessed an addition of 8,300 NOTA votes in the previous numbers. Notably, the NOTA vote share in the 2017 municipal election was 0.69% of the 71,36,863 votes polled.

Afterwards, in the 2020 Delhi assembly elections, NOTA received only 43,108 votes which is about 0.5%.

The data also suggested that the votes cast for NOTA are more than votes cast for many smaller political parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Janata Dal (United) or All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

While NCP bagged a total of 14,890 votes (vote share of 0.20%), AIMIM made it a bit bigger by receiving 45,628 votes (0.68%). Janata Dal (United), meanwhile, had to adjust with 11,480 votes (0.16%).

In 2017, the election was held for the three municipal corporations. In these elections, the NOTA votes (19,762, or 0.74% of votes polled) were mainly cast in North Delhi Municipal Corporation election. Moreover, in South Delhi civic body, the NOTA votes were around19,190 or 0.71% of the votes polled.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Wednesday, emerged as a victorious party as it wins 134 seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, after the victory, expressed gratitude and sought the blessings of PM Modi to improve civic amenities here. Addressing party workers, Kejriwal said, “Will try to live up to expectations of people, urge parties to come together to improve Delhi.”