NEW DELHI: Determined to address voter apathy, particularly in urban areas, the Election Commission on Friday exhorted the municipal commissioners and district election officers of cities and rural areas with a history of low voter participation, to shun the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and make booth-specific, targeted interventions to instil a sense of self-motivation among voters to participate in the upcoming general election.
At a ‘conference on low voter turnout’ chaired by chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu at Nirvachan Sadan and attended in hybrid mode by the municipal commissioners of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Patna Sahib, Lucknow and Kanpur; DEOs of select districts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh; and the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of Bihar, UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Punjab, EC discussed the effective rollout of its turnout implementation plan to push up voting percentages across 266 ‘low-turnout’ urban and rural parliamentary constituencies (PCs).
The conference focused on identifying challenges to increase voter turnout in urban areas and encouraging the officers to develop tailored, region-specific outreach programs that resonate with the unique needs and demographics of their constituencies. This, EC suggested, may involve innovative ways to raise voter awareness like putting election messages on public transport and sanitation vehicles or incorporating them into utility bills, collaborations with RWAs and voter awareness forums; hosting informative sessions at parks, malls etc; organising events like marathons, walkathons etc to ignite voter interest; and disseminating voter education content via hoardings, digital spaces, kiosks and social media.
CEC Kumar directed the municipal commissioners and DEOs to prepare a booth-wise action plan for enhanced voter participation and behaviour change. The latter were told to prepare separate strategies for urban and rural areas and plan interventions as per the different target audiences. Kumar pitched for a three-pronged strategy: providing facilitation at polling stations through queue management, shelter and parking in congested areas; targeted outreach & communication; and involvement of stakeholders like resident welfare associations (RWAs), local icons and youth influencers to persuade people to vote.
Approximately 297 million eligible voters did not vote in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, NCT of Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, J&K and Jharkhand had recorded a voter turnout lower than the national average of 67.40% in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. Of the total 50 rural PCs across 9 states identified with lower voter turnout than the national average in 2019, 22 are in UP (22) and 18 in Bihar.
Of the 50 PCs with the lowest voter turnout in 2019 GE to Lok Sabha, 17 were metropolitan or major cities. A similar trend was seen in past assembly polls, be it in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka. Gandhidham AC in Gujarat’s Kachchh district, which has industrial establishments, recorded the lowest polling percentage of 48.14% in 2022 assembly poll. It was also observed that all rural assembly constituencies voted more in percentage terms than urban ones in Surat. Similarly, in Himachal Pradesh polls the same year, Shimla AC recorded the lowest polling percentage of 63.48% against the state average of 75.78%.
At a ‘conference on low voter turnout’ chaired by chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu at Nirvachan Sadan and attended in hybrid mode by the municipal commissioners of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Patna Sahib, Lucknow and Kanpur; DEOs of select districts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh; and the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of Bihar, UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Punjab, EC discussed the effective rollout of its turnout implementation plan to push up voting percentages across 266 ‘low-turnout’ urban and rural parliamentary constituencies (PCs).
The conference focused on identifying challenges to increase voter turnout in urban areas and encouraging the officers to develop tailored, region-specific outreach programs that resonate with the unique needs and demographics of their constituencies. This, EC suggested, may involve innovative ways to raise voter awareness like putting election messages on public transport and sanitation vehicles or incorporating them into utility bills, collaborations with RWAs and voter awareness forums; hosting informative sessions at parks, malls etc; organising events like marathons, walkathons etc to ignite voter interest; and disseminating voter education content via hoardings, digital spaces, kiosks and social media.
CEC Kumar directed the municipal commissioners and DEOs to prepare a booth-wise action plan for enhanced voter participation and behaviour change. The latter were told to prepare separate strategies for urban and rural areas and plan interventions as per the different target audiences. Kumar pitched for a three-pronged strategy: providing facilitation at polling stations through queue management, shelter and parking in congested areas; targeted outreach & communication; and involvement of stakeholders like resident welfare associations (RWAs), local icons and youth influencers to persuade people to vote.
Approximately 297 million eligible voters did not vote in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, NCT of Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, J&K and Jharkhand had recorded a voter turnout lower than the national average of 67.40% in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. Of the total 50 rural PCs across 9 states identified with lower voter turnout than the national average in 2019, 22 are in UP (22) and 18 in Bihar.
Of the 50 PCs with the lowest voter turnout in 2019 GE to Lok Sabha, 17 were metropolitan or major cities. A similar trend was seen in past assembly polls, be it in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka. Gandhidham AC in Gujarat’s Kachchh district, which has industrial establishments, recorded the lowest polling percentage of 48.14% in 2022 assembly poll. It was also observed that all rural assembly constituencies voted more in percentage terms than urban ones in Surat. Similarly, in Himachal Pradesh polls the same year, Shimla AC recorded the lowest polling percentage of 63.48% against the state average of 75.78%.
