BJP's Shankar Lalwani Leads With Impressive 7.8 Lakh Margin In Indore; NOTA Is The Runner-Up

Indore, a BJP bastion for 35 years, is set to witness a remarkable feat. BJP candidate Shankar Lalwani has won the race with a remarkable margin of 10,08,077 votes in the Indore Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh. His winning margin is a huge achievement for the BJP.

Interestingly, the NOTA (None of the Above) option closely follows Lalwani with 2,18,674 votes. The NOTA allows voters to officially register a “vote of rejection” for all candidates contesting in the electoral race. There are 14 other candidates contesting from Indore.

Lalwani’s victory comes amidst former Congress candidate Akshay Bam withdrawing his nomination ahead of the elections and joined the BJP. This was the first time in the 72 years of Congress’ electoral history that the party has no candidate representing it in the Lok Sabha elections.

After Bam’s withdrawal from the race, Congress had predicted that NOTA would secure two lakh votes. Ever since, the grand old party had been appealing voters to press the NOTA option on the EVMs to teach the BJP “a lesson.” Senior party leader Shobha Oza stated that the national record will go down in history. “It will be a lesson for political parties like BJP which strangle democracy,” she said, as quoted by Mint.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Lalwani won the seat by defeating Congress rival Pankaj Sanghvi by a margin of 5,47,754 votes. The former RSS member, the lone Sindhi community MP, was one of the most polled politicians in the previous Lok Sabha polls. Though Congress has filed a poll code violation case against Lalwani in relation to the 2019 elections, the Indore district court absolves him of charges by allowing “the benefit of doubt.”

The voting in Indore took place on May 13, with a voter turnout recorded at 61.75 percent.

The BJP has secured a lead in 27 seats in the state. Tikamgarh’s Dr. Virendra Kumar has also won the seat for the BJP for a fourth term.