11-04-14
For the first time, number of voters who exercised their franchise in
Lok Sabha poll in Vidarbha has crossed the mark of one crore
By Kartik Lokhande
There is one good news and one bad news for Nagpur constituency of Lok
Sabha. The percentage of polling for this constituency has increased by
13.52 per cent in 2014 over the previous election held in 2009. This
rise is the highest among all 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Vidarbha
region. Now, the bad news. Nagpur is also the constituency that has
witnessed voter turn-out of 57.12 per cent, which is the lowest in all
10 constituencies of the region.
As the final figures for polling in all 10 constituencies of Lok Sabha
in Vidarbha region came out on Friday, the overall picture of voter
turn-out became clear. The region as a whole has seen an impressive rise
of 7.14 per cent in polling, over the previous Lok Sabha election held
in 2009. As against 55.74 per cent polling in 2009, the region has seen
62.88 per cent of voters exercising their franchise this time. All the
constituencies have registered increase in voter turn-out except for
Buldhana, which has recorded a decline by 0.32 per cent over the
previous election.
In the 2009 election, the total number of voters in Vidarbha was
1,47,48,910. A total of 82,21,233 had exercised their franchise then. In
the five years since then, the number of voters has increased by
18,87,233. Compared to the number of voters who cast their votes in
2009, the number (not the percentage of total voters) has increased by
22,39,679. Going by the numbers, the rise is impressive. Another
positive element is that the number of voters who exercised their
franchise in Lok Sabha has crossed the mark of one crore for the first
time ever!
However, for Nagpur constituency, there is a flip side too. While the
under-developed and Naxal-affected constituency of Gadchiroli-Chimur
recorded 69.65 per cent polling, it remains a shame for the largest,
all-accessible, safe, literate and ‘urbane’ constituency like Nagpur
(also, the Second Capital of Maharashtra) to see only 57.12 per cent of
voters coming out to exercise their democratic right. Interestingly, the
polling period was 11 hours in Nagpur and it was only eight hours in
Gadchiroli-Chimur for security reasons. Similarly, another
under-developed constituency of Bhandara-Gondia has recorded the highest
polling percentage of 72.21, breaking its previous record of 71.08.
In entire Vidarbha region, only Nagpur and Yavatmal-Washim
constituencies have recorded less than 60 per cent polling. While Nagpur
has recorded the lowest polling percentage of 57.12, Yavatmal-Washim
has recored second-lowest polling percentage of 58.80. All other
constituencies have recorded above 60 per cent polling this time.
Political leaders blame it on
to problems in electoral rolls
The
political leaders also were puzzled by lowest voter turn-out in Nagpur
constituency, compared to other constituencies in Vidarbha region. While
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has decided to find out the reasons,
the leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, and Shiv Sena
blamed it on mainly to problems in electoral rolls.
Anil Deshmukh, Food and Civil Supplies Minister and senior leader of
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), expressed surprise over voter turn-out
in Nagpur city compared to other constituencies in Vidarbha. “We have
already discussed the issue and have decided to study the reasons,” he
said. Nagpur is the largest of all Lok Sabha constituencies in Vidarbha,
if one goes by number of voters. Still, the polling percentage was the
lowest in Vidarbha. “This is a cause of concern and steps must be taken
to improve this,” he added.
According to Devendra Fadnavis, South-West Nagpur MLA and State
President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main reason was problems
in electoral rolls only. Wrong names, duplication, and several such
discrepancies existed in electoral rolls and that discouraged voters, he
felt. According to him, Election Commission of India (ECI) must order
‘comprehensive revision’ of electoral rolls to make them accurate. When
pointed out that the problem existed in all constituencies of Vidarbha
and not only in the most urban constituency of Nagpur, Fadnavis observed
that the problem in electoral rolls existed mainly in urban areas. “In
rural areas, there is little change in details related to a voter. In
urban constituency, shifting or migration is more frequent compared to
rural constituency. Hence, discrepancies in electoral rolls in urban
constituency affects voter turn-out,” he told ‘The Hitavada’.
Vikas Thakre, City President of Congress, said that the increase in
voter turn-out was indeed impressive compared to previous Lok Sabha
election. However, compared to other constituencies in Vidarbha, it was
the lowest in Nagpur. “The main reason is problems in electoral rolls.
Names of many voters were missing from voters’ list. Besides, summer
heat was a reason,” he said. These factors were the same throughout
Vidarbha. This points out towards lack of enthusiasm among voters to the
desired level, he said.
Shekhar Sawarbandhe, City President of Shiv Sena also said that problems
with voters’ list was the main reason. Many voters could not find their
names in the electoral rolls online as their names were spelt wrongly
by person feeding the data. Besides, at least one to two per cent of
voting was affected as educated youths from the city were working at
Pune, Mumbai, or even abroad and they could not come to vote. According
to Sawarbandhe, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) of the Government also must
be held responsible as they failed in reaching out to voters’ door-steps
with voters’ slips despite instructions from the Election Commission of
India. Instead of visiting homes of voters, BLOs sat at polling
stations on polling date, he alleged.
Comments
Post a Comment