A new trend has emerged this Lok Sabha election with more than 82,000 voters in the city opting for the 'None of the Above' (NOTA) option, as per data of the Election Commission of India (ECI). While in Maharashtra, Palghar seat saw the highest NOTA voting percentage, Mumbai North West topped the list in the city. Compared to the 2014 figure of 4.6 lakh NOTA votes in the state, this year 4.8 lakh voters chose not to vote in favour of any party.

According to data on the ECI website, the Palghar Lok Sabha seat recorded 29,479 NOTA votes, which is 2.45 per cent of the total votes in the constituency. Shiv Sena candidate Rajendra Gavit won the seat by defeating Baliram Jadhav of Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi. Of the total votes polled in the constituency (1,201,941), Gavit got 580,479 (48.3%) while Jadhav bagged 491,596 (40.9%).

The second highest number of NOTA votes — 24,599, which is 2.15 per cent of the total votes (1,142,698) polled in the constituency — was recorded at the Gadchiroli-Chimur seat. Ashok Nete of BJP won this seat against Dr Namdeo Usendi of the Congress. Nete bagged 519,968 (45.5 per cent) votes while Usendi got 442,442 (38.72 per cent).