Over 2 lakh Pune voters opt for NOTA, outnumber votes for AAP and MNS

A total of 1,155 candidates were in the fray for 165 PMC seats, with elections held after a gap of nine years.

The NOTA option was introduced on electronic voting machines following electoral reforms in 2013, after a Supreme Court directive, and was first implemented during the Rajasthan Assembly elections. NOTA allows voters to register their dissatisfaction with all contesting candidates.

In the Lok Sabha elections held in 2024 the NOTA percentage for Pune was 0.68%. In the Assembly elections that followed, the percentage for the 6 assembly constituencies in Pune ranged from 0.68% to 0.72%. In Shivaji Nagar, 2,044 people or 1.33% opted for NOTA. In Parvati it was 246, that came 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 came to 1.16%.

The PMC election percentage of nearly 3% thus marks a significant hike in the number of people exercising the option for NOTA.
Commenting on the trend, Anish Tore, professor of political economics at a city college, said the high number of NOTA votes reflected growing public disillusionment with the political system.

“In the last 4-5 years the state has seen every other kind of permutation and combinations which has really taken ideology off the political system. The voters have somehow got disenchanted about the process and chosen NOTA,” he said.
Tore, however, noted that NOTA currently has limited impact. “As of now NOTA is a tiger without teeth, 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 secured the highest number of votes at 32,18,664, followed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 17,86,172 votes. The Congress polled 6,32,924 votes, while the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) received 5,22,138 votes. A total of 3,11,669 voters chose Shiv Sena (UBT), while 2,88,200 votes were cast in favour of NCP (Sharad Pawar).

In terms of seats, the BJP won 119 seats, while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP secured 27 seats. The BJP also improved its overall tally in the PMC.

Electoral activists have been demanding further reforms related to NOTA, including provisions for cancellation of elections or redrawing of candidate lists if NOTA crosses a certain vote threshold.