The NOTA story has come a long way voicing disapproval of voters against demerit of candidates in past three Lok Sabha elections, since its inception in 2013.
The None of the Above, abbreviated as NOTA, option on EVMs has empowered the voters to make sure that their choice be heard if not instantly, in coming times, forcing political parties to sit up and rethink about their choice of candidates.
Having emerged as a powerful tool in the hands of the electorate, a significant 63,47,509 voters pressed the NOTA button in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Top 10 parliamentary constituencies with maximum NOTA hits
In 18th Lok Sabha, Indore, having till now enjoyed the distinction of being adjudged the cleanest city in country has post June 04, 2024 also achieved the tag of registering the highest-ever NOTA votes in the country at a never before 2,18,674 hits. It crossed the previous all time high record of 51,660 NOTA votes polled in Gopalganj constituency in Bihar. The second in line is Araku parliamentary constituency in Andhra Pradesh which polled 50,470 NOTA votes while Nabarangpur parliamentary constituency in Odisha polled third highest count of 43,268 NOTA votes.
Bihar’s Gopalganj bagged the fourth spot with 42,863 NOTA votes while Kodarma parliamentary constituency in Jharkhand polled fifth highest count of 42,152 NOTA votes.
Reports revealed, the remaining five parliamentary constituency on top 10 list include Koraput (37,131), Hajipur (36,927), Bastar (36,758), Jhanjharpur (35,928) and Dahod (34,938) respectively.
NOTA in last three Lok Sabha polls
The NOTA button instated by the ECI in 2013 gave the voters an option of rejecting all the candidates in their constituency. Out of 64,53,63,445 votes polled in Lok Sabha, 2024, 63,72,220 (0.99%) were polled for NOTA while in 2019 polls, of the total 61,31,33,300 votes polled, 65,14,558 (1.06%) were polled for NOTA. Similarly, out of the total 50,54,35,758 votes polled for 16th Lok Sabha in 2014, 56,62,388 (1.12%) were NOTA votes.
As per reports made available by Association for Democratic Reforms, NOTA witnessed a slight dip nationally by 0.07% when compared to 17th Lok Sabha. In 2024, NOTA votes made up for 0.99% of total votes polled which was slightly less from 2019, wherein NOTA votes made up for 1.06 per cent of total votes polled. However, reports revealed, the percentage of NOTA votes polled in 2014 pegged at 1.12 per cent was the highest till now in parliamentary polls.
Top 10 states with maximum NOTA votes
Uttar Pradesh topped the list with maximum NOTA votes amounting to 636848 (0.72%) followed by Madhya Pradesh registering 533705 (1.41%) NOTA votes for the second spot and West Bengal with 524954 (0.87%) closely edged for the third spot on the top 10 list of states with maximum NOTA votes.
Tamil Nadu bagged fourth spot with 467068 (1.07%) NOAT votes while Gujarat recorded 460341 (1.58%) NOTA votes for the fifth spot.
The remaining five spots on the list have Maharashtra with 415580 (0.73%) NOTA votes, Andhra Pradesh
402366 (1.19%), Odisha 325483 (1.30%), Rajasthan 279464 (0.84%) and Assam 240301 (1.20%) NOTA votes respectively.
Top 10 States/UT with least NOTA votes
The list of States/Union Territories with least count of NOTA votes in 2024 Lok Sabha polls has Lakshadweep on the top with a minimum of 133 (0.27%) NOTA votes followed by Ladakh on second spot with 912 (0.67%) NOTA votes and Nagaland with 1646 (0.22%) NOTA votes on third spot.
Reports revealed, the Andaman & Nicobar island registered 1809 (0.89%) NOTA votes for the fourth spot on the list while Mizoram with 1893 (0.39%) votes stood at fifth position. The remaining five spots on the list witnessed Sikkim 2527 (0.66%) NOTA votes, Chandigarh 2912 (0.65%), Arunachal Pradesh 7191 (0.99%), Manipur 11022 (0.69%) and Meghalaya with 16848 (0.98%) NOTA votes respectively.
Before NOTA
Before the introduction of NOTA (None of the Above) in 2013, there was no specific option on the ballot paper to reject all candidates. However, there was a provision under Rule 49-O of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, which allowed a voter to record their dissent by filling up a form and submitting it to the presiding officer.
This provision was known as “Rule 49-O” or “Section 49-O”, and it allowed a voter to inform the presiding officer that they did not wish to vote for any of the candidates and fill up a form providing their name, address, and other details and submit the same to presiding officer.
Since the process was lengthy and not widely known or used, it had very few takers.
Invent of NOTA
In the PUCL vs. Union of India judgement of 2013, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to include NOTA in elections to Lok Sabha and respective state legislative assemblies. The NOTA option was first used in the 2013 legislative assembly elections held in four states—Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, and the union territory of Delhi.
Since its inception, NOTA has gained popularity, at times getting more hits than some candidates in fray in legislative assembly elections besides while in some cases scored more than the winning candidate in panchayat elections.
NOTA not in Upper House
In 2014, the Supreme Court of India had earlier directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to introduce NOTA in the Rajya Sabha elections as well, but the latter expressed its inability to implement NOTA in Rajya Sabha polls due to the proportional representation system followed in these elections.
In Rajya Sabha elections, members are elected by the elected representatives of the Legislative Assembly, and the voting system is based on proportional representation. The ECI argued that introducing NOTA in such a system would require significant changes in the voting procedure and could lead to complications.
The Supreme Court accepted the ECI’s stance and allowed the exclusion of NOTA from Rajya Sabha elections. Therefore, NOTA is currently only applicable in direct elections, such as Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
NOTA symbol
In 2015, the Election Commission of India unveiled the symbol for NOTA option whose design was done by National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. Earlier, there were demands that Election Commission should allot the symbol of a donkey for NOTA.
Key Facts
• In the 2017 Gujarat Assembly Elections, the total vote share of NOTA was lesser only than BJP, Congress, and Independent Candidates. In 118 constituencies, NOTA polled the third largest vote share after BJP and Congress.
• In the 2018 Karnataka Assembly Elections, NOTA polled more votes than some parties with a nation-wide presence such as CPI(M) and BSP.
• In the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections conducted in 2018, the difference between the vote share of the BJP and Congress was just 0.1%, whereas NOTA polled a vote share of 1.4%.
• For example, in the South Gwalior Constituency, the sitting MLA Narayan Singh Kushwah lost by 121 votes, whereas NOTA got 1550 votes. Had all the NOTA voters hypothetically voted for Kushwah, he would have won by a huge margin.
• In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, 2G scam accused MP – A Raja (DMK candidate) – lost to the AIADMK candidate, while NOTA emerged with the third largest vote share, possibly as an expression of public anger towards corrupt candidates.
• In the 2019 Indian general election, about 1.04 percent of the voters chose to vote for None Of The Above (NOTA), with Bihar and Assam leading with 2.08 percent NOTA voters.
States having received maximum NOTA votes in 2024
| State | NOTA votes | Percentage |
| Uttar Pradesh | 636848 | 0.72 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 533705 | 1.41 |
| West Bengal | 524954 | 0.87 |
| Tamil Nadu | 467068 | 1.07 |
| Gujarat | 460341 | 1.58 |
| Maharashtra | 415580 | 0.73 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 402366 | 1.19 |
| Odisha | 325483 | 1.30 |
| Rajasthan | 279464 | 0.84 |
| Assam | 240301 | 1.20 |
