NOTA to debut in Delhi MCD polls; no ticket to sitting councillors, says BJP

New Delhi: Voters, for the first time, will be able to exercise the "None of the Above" (NOTA) option for candidates in the upcoming municipal elections in Delhi, State Election Commission said on Wednesday.

The election to the three municipal corporations will be held on April 22, while counting will take place on April 25.

"There will now be a button for NOTA in EVMs so that voters who do not want to vote for any of the candidates can exercise their option by pressing the button against NOTA," State Election Commissioner SK Srivastava said while addressing a press conference in New Delhi.

He said this is the first time that NOTA option would be provided to voters in all three civic body polls.

The total number of electorate for the civic polls stands at 1,32,10,206, which include 73,15,915 men, 58,93,418 women and 793 voters in the other category.

The announcement was made hours after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's directions to the Delhi Chief Secretary MM Kutty to write to the Election Commission, asking it to ensure that the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election is held via a paper ballot instead of EVMs.

Meanwhile, the BJP decided on a major move to beat anti-incumbency — the party will field new faces, most of them young, on all seats.

The BJP, which rules all three poll-bound corporations, said it will not give tickets to any sitting councillor or their relatives. The party is likely to announce its candidate list by March 22.

"We want to bring an army of new people, mainly youth, who can take forward the policy of PM Narendra Modi for new India. It is a unanimous decision of the party," said Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari was quoted as saying by Times of India.

Tiwari reportedly made these remarks in the presence of the party's city MPs Harsh Vardhan, Maheish Girri, Parvesh Verma and Udit Raj.

The decision was taken at a recent meeting of core group members with BJP chief Amit Shah. The party has to fight strong anti-incumbency against it as it has not been able to do much work despite being in power in the corporations for a decade. 

Both AAP and Congress have been targeting the party for its inefficiency and corruption in the corporations.