Workers from various parties of the INDIA bloc gathered for a protest on Saturday next to the Gandhi statue at Indore’s famed Regal Square with banners and placards asking people to press NOTA on May 13 when the Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh goes to the polls.
One of the banners said: “Press the last button — NOTA — on the EVM and ensure the victory of democracy.” The call for NOTA comes days after the Congress’ official candidate Akshay Kanti Bam had withdrawn his nomination on April 29 and joined the ruling BJP the same day.
Workers of the Congress, with support from other parties of the INDIA bloc, are now urging people to go for the NOTA (None of the Above) option through various campaigns. On May 10, they took out a silent march with black armbands. They are also going door-to-door with their call, sticking posters on walls and auto-rickshaws.
Indore city Congress president Surjeet Chaddha told The Hindu that the party was aiming for about 3.5 to 4 lakh votes polled on NOTA.
“We have also started holding meetings with our booth-level workers to get them to work on this. We will have our agents at polling booths and will also send our agents for vote counting,” he said.
“We had pasted posters on more than 4,000 auto-rickshaws. The BJP was startled by this and its leaders started tearing them down. Now, they are pasting their posters on autos,” he said, referring to a viral video showing a councillor of the BJP removing posters from autos.
Some Congress workers also quoted former Lok Sabha Speaker and eight-term BJP MP from Indore Sumitra Mahajan to claim that many in the BJP were also unhappy with the withdrawal of Mr. Bam’s candidature. Ms. Mahajan had recently stated that the news was “shocking for her” and that there was “no need for this”. “We were anyway winning. But now I am getting calls from many people saying that they did not like this thing and will now vote for NOTA. I told them not to do so,” Ms. Mahajan had told a news channel.
Dharmendra Singh, a local Congress worker, said, “Even though we have not won (Lok Sabha polls) here since 1989, the politics in Indore was civil during her time. Now, the BJP here has turned it into a mafia capturing everything.”
Admitting that the Congress cadre were frustrated after Mr. Bam’s withdrawal, Vikas Joshi, another Congress worker, said that they have now recharged themselves to protect democracy.
“He (Bam) has done this out of fear but if he was a true Congress worker, he would have preferred going to jail. But we will not give up because of him. Earlier it was about the election, and victory and defeat are a part of it. But now it is about saving the democracy, otherwise the BJP will hijack the entire nation,” he said.
Mr. Bam’s decision to withdraw his nomination had come just five days after a local court added charges of attempt to murder (IPC Section 307) in a 17-year-old case against him and his father. On May 10, the court also issued a non-bailable warrant against them, after they failed to appear before the court citing health and personal reasons.
“I am a Ram bhakt and BJP supporter but what happened is not going down well with people. I don’t know how many votes will be polled on NOTA but there should have been a fair election in Indore,” said Vishal Prajapati, a tea vendor in Ban Ganga area.
Meanwhile, the BJP has termed the Congress’ campaign as “negative politics”. The party’s campaign was concluded by State Chief Minister Mohan Yadav with a roadshow on May 11 evening.
A picture of Mr. Bam in a car with senior BJP leader and State Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya and MLA Ramesh Mendola, who had accompanied the former during the candidature withdrawal, had recently gone viral.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Vijayvargiya said, “Indore’s foundation is of positivity, not negativity. We are the city of smiling faces. Nobody likes people spreading negativity and the people of Indore will defeat it (the Congress’ campaign).”
Congress’ substitute candidate Moti Singh’s petition to declare him the official party candidate has been rejected by the Supreme Court. However, there are 13 more candidates from smaller parties or as independents in the fray in Indore constituency that has about 25 lakh voters.
