Bhopal: Indore in Madhya Pradesh is perhaps the only Lok Sabha constituency in the country where NOTA (None of the Above) has become the key theme of campaigning of the rival parties, BJP and Congress, for the May 13 polls.
The NOTA option has suddenly come into prominence after Indore Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination at the last moment, denying the grand old party to field an alternative nominee in the seat.
Mr Bam later quit Congress and joined BJP.
The state Congress president Jitu Patwari has accused BJP of resorting to coercive measures to make Mr Bam withdraw his nomination.
However, Mr Bam later blamed Mr Patwari for taking the ‘unpleasant’ decision, saying that he was ‘asked’ to spend money in the elections which was beyond his means.
Besides Mr Bam, ten independent candidates also withdrew their nominations, leaving BJP nominee Shankar Lalwani, the incumbent MP, along with 13 other independent candidates to remain in the contest in the seat.
The development has raised the prospect of the BJP candidate Mr Lalwani getting a walkover in the polls, leaving Congress red faced.
The Congress has explored the option of extending support to one of the 13 independent candidates who are in the fray in the seat to take on BJP.
But, the party later dropped the idea after sensing that it will be a futile exercise and hence, decided to launch a campaign appealing the voters to opt for NOTA to ensure that the option gets the highest number of votes among the candidates.
“We have decided not to extend our support to any of the independent candidates who are in the fray in the seat and instead, campaign for ‘NOTA’ to ‘morally’ defeat the BJP candidate in Indore”, K K Mishra, media advisor to Mr Patwari told this newspaper on Monday.
According to him, the Congress along with its INDIA bloc alliance partners has launched a ‘door-to-door’ campaign in the constituency appealing to the people to press the NOTA button in protest against the ‘machination’ by BJP to make Mr Bam withdraw his nomination.
The BJP on the other hand has launched a special mass contact drive to appeal to the people to vote for Mr Lalwani and not waste their votes by pressing the NOTA button.
Senior BJP leaders met in Indore late on Sunday night to chalk out a strategy to counter the ‘vote for NOTA’ campaign by Congress by ensuring BJP candidate’s victory with a record margin of votes, a senior BJP functionary said.
The meeting was attended by former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, deputy chief minister Jagdish Dewda, and the BJP MLAs of Indore district.
“BJP has launched a special drive across the state including Indore to increase polling percentage in the LS elections”, state BJP secretary Rajneesh Agrawal said.
