Madhya Pradesh Voting: A BJP vs NOTA Fight In Indore Constituency

Polling is underway in eight Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, however, the Indore constituency has been hitting headlines the most. Even though 14 candidates are in the fray in Indore, the main fight is between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the 'None of the above (NOTA)' option. Lok Sabha Elections Phase 4 Voting LIVE Updates

The NOTA option has unexpectedly hogged the limelight after Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination at the last minute and joined the BJP on April 29.

ALSO READ | After Surat Setback, Congress's Indore Candidate Opts Out Of LS Contest; BJP 'Welcomes' Him

As Bam's move set the stage for a one-sided contest for BJP's Shankar Lalwani, who won from Indore by nearly 5.4 lakh votes last time, the Congress urged voters to hit the NOTA button.

Of the total 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, polling was held in 21 in three phases on April 19, April 26 and May 7. Votes will be counted on June 4.

The Congress has appealed to voters in Indore Lok Sabha constituency to select the NOTA option on the polling day on May 13. While Congress is targeting the BJP with the slogan "Note ka Jawab Nota", the saffron party has retorted saying, "Your coin is counterfeit".

Countering Congress's campaign, the BJP has asked voters to shun the None of The Above (NOTA) option and re-elect party MP Shankar Lalwani by a huge margin.

Madhya Pradesh Minister Tulsi Silawat uploaded RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's speech purportedly discouraging NOTA on his X (formerly Twitter) handle.

State Congress president Jitu Patwari had said even though the party candidate is not in the fray, Congress workers should consider NOTA as their nominee.

A similar case happened in the Surat constituency of Gujarat where the BJP candidate won unopposed as all other candidates withdrew from the fray, triggering a row.

ALSO READ | After BJP's Surat Lok Sabha Win, NOTA Debate Takes Over Social Media

BJP's Mukesh Dalal was on April 22 elected unopposed from Gujarat's Surat. The candidature of the Congress' Nilesh Kumbhani was rejected a day earlier after the district returning officer prima facie found discrepancies in the signature of the proposers.

Voting for all 26 constituencies in Gujarat is scheduled for May 7, but with the result of Surat seat already out, polling will be held on 25 seats.