Rising NOTA votes in BMC & NMMC polls signal voter dissatisfaction; in several wards, NOTA exceeded winning margins

MUMBAI: A growing number of voters chose NOTA in the recently concluded civic elections across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, underlining voter dissatisfaction even as established parties retained control.

In the 2026 BMC elections, over one lakh voters opted for NOTA out of 54.64 lakh votes polled, accounting for nearly 1.8% of the turnout. In at least eight wards, NOTA votes exceeded the winning margins, indicating that results could have changed had those votes gone to rival candidates.




In Mulund's Ward 106, BJP's Prabhakar Shinde lost by 164 votes to MNS candidate Satyawan Dalvi, while 610 NOTA votes were recorded. In Ward 191, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Vishakha Raut won by 197 votes, even as 772 voters chose NOTA. In Kalina, Tulip Miranda won by just seven votes, with 269 NOTA votes polled. In at least three other wards that saw direct contests, over 1,000 NOTA votes were recorded, though margins there were larger. A similar surge was seen in the NMMC elections, where 73,559 NOTA votes were cast, compared to 5,391 in 2015. The highest NOTA count, 2,398, was in Nerul, while the lowest, 189, was recorded in Belapur.