YouTuber Meghnad, Who Contested As Independent, Defeated By NOTA; Gets 192 Votes

At one point during the vote counting process on February 8, he had bagged 17 votes, while there were 1300 people watching him lives on his channel that time.

'India's first YouTuber neta' Meghnad S contested the Delhi Assembly elections from the high-profile Malviya Nagar seat, but his efforts went in vain after he managed to garner just 192 votes, failing to beat even NOTA (None of the Above), which was pressed by 532 voters. Ironically, his campaign song 'Dilli Ka Normie Neta' has more views and likes than the votes he received.

The 35-year-old YouTuber and journalist, on January 10, tweeted on a video of the Prime Minister urging India's youth to join politics, saying "I am going to try and do it Modi ji". A

Meghnad S has over 81.7K subscribers on YouTube and nearly 2 lakh followers on X. His username is meghnad (Nerds ka Parivar) akin to how BJP leaders use (Modi ka Pariwar) after their names on their social media handles.

While the counting was underway,  he took the results in his stride, and wrote on X: "141 votes. 4 rounds still left. I was expecting 7 votes tbh (to be honest)." 

At one point during the counting process on February 8, he had bagged 17 votes, while there were 1300 people watching him lives on his channel that time.

He started a 'Project Anda' ahead of the Delhi polls as a part of which he made a video titled "How to lose an election in 10 days" whose description read: "Documenting the cheapest and scrappiest campaign in the Delhi elections 2025."

He made another video on How to become a neta in 10 days, which was shared by him last month. "Complete guide to getting your name on the ballot," the video's description read.

Meghnad left no stone unturned in his campaigning and pitched how he wanted to reinstate people's faith in democracy and normalise common people — without money and politicial party affiliations — contesting elections. 

During his campaigns and interviews, Meghnad maintained an engaging tone with the locals and emphasised that he was contesting the polls to prove normal people can also contest against traditional politicians. His rallies were simple, devoid of the usual political theatrics. 

Although he was up against several bigwigs in the constituency, Meghnad grabbed attention on social media ahead of the polls with his campaign jingle and catchy slogans. 'Dilli ka normie Neta', his campaign song, became a viral and has garnered nearly 45,000 views since its release.

His election campaign song had catchy lyrics and used sarcasm to highlight key issues faced by Delhi citizens such as traffic congestion, air pollution, water supply, potholed roads, and other civic issues. "Not your usual politician, I don't make false claims, so choose the pen on an EVM," are some of the lines of the song. In the song he ackowledged how he was aware he might not get a single vote in the polls.

The YouTuber, who claimed that he was self-funded, declared Rs 55.1 lakh in movable assets, with liabilities of Rs 1 lakh in his election affidavit. His election symbol was a pen. He filed his nomination as an Independent on January 17.

Eventually, the Malviya Nagar seat was won by former BJP Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay, who defeated AAP sitting MLA Somnath Bharti by over 2,000 votes.