Impact of NOTA: Maharashtra’s Lok Sabha Results Altered in Two Constituencies
Mumbai, 6th June 2024: In a significant shift from the 2019 parliamentary elections, the number of voters choosing the ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option decreased from 4.88 lakh to 4.12 lakh in Maharashtra. However, the impact of NOTA could have altered the outcome in at least two Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
In the closely contested Mumbai North West battle, Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Waikar clinched victory over Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Kirtikar by a razor-thin margin of just 48 votes, while 15,161 voters opted for NOTA. Similarly, in Dhule, where Congress’s Shobha Bachhav emerged victorious with a slim margin of 3,831 votes against BJP’s former Union Minister Subhash Bhamre, NOTA garnered 4,693 votes.
NOTA ranked third in terms of vote share in Mumbai North West and fifth in Dhule. The highest NOTA count was recorded in Raigad with 27,270 votes, while Beed witnessed the lowest at 2,087 votes. The Election Commission of India introduced the NOTA option in 2014.
According to Shriranjan Awate, a political analyst and faculty member at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), many voters disillusioned by party splits and political defections in recent years chose the NOTA option. He emphasized that while NOTA votes typically don’t sway outcomes significantly in Maharashtra, they played a crucial role in these instances due to their numbers surpassing the winning margins.
In Mumbai, NOTA emerged as the third-highest vote-getter in four out of six parliamentary constituencies. In the remaining two seats, the Vanchit Bahujan Agadh (VBA), led by Prakash Ambedkar, garnered slightly more votes than NOTA. However, all third-place vote tallies accounted for less than 2% of the total votes cast.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections witnessed a tight race between the primary candidates in each of Mumbai’s seats, with minimal influence from third-party contenders. Unlike the 2019 parliamentary elections, where the VBA had garnered between 2% and 8% of the total votes cast in all six constituencies, NOTA performed comparatively better this time.
Across the six constituencies, a total of 75,262 NOTA votes were recorded, with the highest number in the Mumbai North West constituency. Mumbai South and South Central had the highest NOTA share at 1.7% each.
Interestingly, a registered unrecognized party named Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, under investigation by the Income Tax department for alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions, fielded candidates in two seats in the city, collectively receiving 1,368 votes.
