RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat cast his vote in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) polls and commented on the NOTA option, stating it indirectly helps promote an unwanted candidate.
The Nationalist Citizens Party of India's campaign posters carry the message: 'To save your rights, reject political turncoats. Support social workers, not political personalities,' and urges voters to press the symbol of a pen nib.
The share of none of the above (NOTA) option went up marginally this time in the Bihar assembly polls as compared to the last elections but is still much lower than 2015, data shared by the Election Commission shows.
A day after 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs announced their merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a senior functionary of the outfit questioned the decision, claiming the party leadership had never been consulted on the move and that such a decision could not be taken unilaterally.
Rebel Trinamool Congress MP Arup Chakraborty on Monday said the breakaway faction is trying to "rectify" the party, and would fight for the control of its election symbol, even as the Mamata Banerjee-led outfit termed the move illegal under the anti-defection law.
Recent assembly elections across several states in India saw exceptionally high voter participation, with women voters outnumbering men in turnout percentages, according to Election Commission data.
The BJP has won the repoll to Bengal's Falta Assembly seat with a significant margin, marking a dramatic shift in the political landscape of West Bengal. The TMC's candidate slipped to fourth place and forfeited his deposit in what was once considered a TMC stronghold.
Actor Vijay's newly formed party, TVK, has achieved a significant victory in the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, securing a commanding vote share and disrupting the state's traditional bipolar political system.
Newlyweds Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna have returned to the film set for their highly anticipated period action drama Ranabaali, a crucial project for Deverakonda's career.
The None of the Above (NOTA) option once again found few takers, with 0.75 per cent of the electorate pressing the button in Maharashtra and 1.32 per cent in Jharkhand. Votes for the assembly elections in these two states were counted on Saturday.
A newly-elected AIMIM corporator's victory speech, vowing to 'paint Mumbra green,' has sparked controversy, with rivals questioning its religious overtones. The corporator has since clarified her remarks.
As votes for the Delhi assembly polls were counted on Saturday, latest data of the Election Commission showed that NOTA option got 0.57 per cent vote share as compared to 0.55 pet cent of the Bahujan Samaj Party and 0.01 per cent of Communist Party of India-Marxist.
'Rather than criticising the kind of candidates fielded by political parties from our living rooms, NOTA in a sense implores the electorate to say this by turning up in person at a polling booth to ensure their protest is registered.'
Large hoardings praising Fadnavis' leadership appeared across the city, reflecting a celebratory mood within the BJP camp following its strong performance in the country's richest civic body.
Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) failed to make a significant impact in the Bihar assembly elections, with most candidates securing less than 10% of the votes. The party is set to forfeit security deposits in a majority of constituencies.
The portion of 'none of the above' option or NOTA dropped from 1.08% in 2014 to 1.06% in 2019.
The portion of 'none of the above' option or NOTA dropped from 1.08% in 2014 to 1.06% in 2019.
The Maharashtra municipal elections showed a troubling shift, where votes were traded for cash, convictions no longer mattered, and ideology became an afterthought, observes Ramesh Menon.
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will now feature color photographs of candidates, starting with the Bihar assembly elections. This change aims to improve clarity and recognition for voters.
All 13 candidates in the fray in Indore against Lalwani, who won by a potentially record margin votes, lost their security deposit, indicating they were clearly rejected by the voters. If a candidate gets fewer than one-sixth of the total valid votes cast in a constituency, his/her security deposit is seized by the EC.
The top court issued notice to the Election Commission on the PIL filed by author, activist and motivational speaker Shiv Khera.
'If you want a bright future of Bihar and your children, I urge you not to vote for anyone with a criminal background or corrupt candidates even if they belong to your caste.'
The counting of votes in three out of four states on Sunday showed that less than 1 percent of the voters exercised the 'none of the above' option in the just-concluded assembly polls, according to the election commission.
Polling in Indore, where the Congress is out of race after its candidate withdrew his nomination, is scheduled on May 13.
Odisha's and Telangana's principal opposition parties, the Biju Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi, on Monday announced that their MPs will abstain from voting in the vice presidential elections.
'The EC should not have let the initiative go into the hands of the political leadership. By allowing this to happen, they have opened a Pandora's box.'
Analysis shows 7,42,134 voters opted for NOTA as against 4,60,741 votes who had chosen this option in 2014 polls.
The showstopper of this year's IPL is a robot dog, which has instantly become a hit among players, experts and fans alike.
7,06,252 people or 1.7 per cent of the voters opted for the option whereby they preferred not to vote for any candidate while exercising their democratic right.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, where it was introduced for the first time in any parliamentary election, around 60 lakh voters had opted for the NOTA option -- equalling about 1.1 per cent of the total votes polled during those elections across 543 seats.
The Aam Aadmi Party has not only failed to win a single seat in the Uttar Pradesh polls, even its vote share was less than NOTA, with a senior party leader saying the 2022 elections were about taking the party's idea to the people of the state.
'Whatever the Supreme Court expected, it wasn't achieved in these five years.' 'So, we have made an amendment now to achieve that objective.'
In percentage terms, 1.8 per cent voters in Gujarat pressed the NOTA button on electronic voting machines in Gujarat, as against 0.9 per cent in the hill state (over 33,000 voters).
Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), secured a comfortable win in the bypoll to Andheri (East) Assembly seat in Mumbai on Sunday, while votes polled in favour of the None of the Above (NOTA) option obtained the second position.
According to the Election Commission's website at 5.45 pm on Tuesday, the NOTA votes ranged as high as 2.1 per cent in Chhattisgarh to 0.5 per cent in Mizoram.
Villagers said they have been demanding a 1,500-metre link road since 2007. Lack of connectivity has already forced about 65 per cent of the residents to abandon the village, they complained.
Most candidates of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party secured less than 1,000 votes in the two states and were set to lose to their security deposits.
They alleged that while the two main political parties in the state -- the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party -- have 'cheated' them, the other parties are 'ineffective'.
Incidentally, 164 of the total 356 candidates in the fray from the 43 assembly seats of Jammu region got less votes than none of the above, which gives an option to voters to reject all candidates in a constituency.
The apex court had questioned the poll panel's notification and said that NOTA was meant to be exercised by individual voters in direct polls.
