More than two lakh voters in Pune opted for the None of the Above (NOTA) option in the recently concluded Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections, registering a higher vote share than that of several political parties.
Data shared by the State Election Commission shows that of the 74,63,824 voters who exercised their right to vote, 2,21,209 chose NOTA, which is almost 3 per cent of the total votes surveyed.
NOTA’s tally surpassed the votes polled by political parties like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and even independent candidates. Contesting for the first time in the PMC elections, the AAP got 50,517 votes, while the MNS got 1,55,788 votes. The independent candidates, many of whom were political party rebels, collectively received 1,47,278 votes.
A total of 1,155 candidates were contesting for 165 PMC seats, and the elections were held after a gap of nine years.
The NOTA option was introduced in electronic voting machines following the 2013 electoral reforms, following a directive from the Supreme Court, and was first implemented during the Rajasthan Assembly elections. NOTA allows voters to register their discontent with all competing candidates.
In the Lok Sabha elections held in 2024, the NOTA percentage for Pune which is 0.68%. In the Assembly elections that followed, the percentage of the six Assembly constituencies in Pune ranged between 0.68% and 0.72%. In Shivaji Nagar, 2,044 people or 1.33% opted for NOTA. In Parvati there were 246, which is equivalent to 1.6%. In Kothrud, 3,152 or 1.35%. In Kasba it was 1,213 or 0.72%, Hadapsar 2,046 or 0.93%. And in Pune cantonment, the figure was 1,815, which was 1.16%.
The PMC’s electoral percentage of almost 3% thus marks a significant increase in the number of people exercising the NOTA option.
Commenting on the trend, Anish Tore, professor of political economy at a city university, said the high number of NOTA votes reflected growing public disillusionment with the political system.
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“In the last 4 or 5 years, the state has seen all kinds of permutations and combinations that have really removed ideology from the political system. Voters somehow became disillusioned with the process and chose NOTA,” he said.
Tore, however, noted that NOTA currently has limited impact. “For now, NOTA is a toothless tiger, but if a significant number of voters continue to choose NOTA, more electoral reforms can be expected,” he added.
According to the data, the BJP got the highest number of votes with 32,18,664, followed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 17,86,172 votes. The Congress got 6,32,924 votes, while the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) received 5,22,138 votes. A total of 3,11,669 voters elected Shiv Sena (UBT), while 2,88,200 votes were cast in favor of NCP (Sharad Pawar).
In terms of seats, the BJP won 119 seats, while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP won 27 seats. The BJP also improved its overall tally in the PMC.
Election activists have been demanding more NOTA-related reforms, including provisions for canceling elections or redrawing candidate lists if NOTA crosses a certain vote threshold.