Chennai, Bangalore, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra and Hyderabad are some of the major cities in India and even as they are situated in the different parts of the country, they all joined the lower voter turnout group in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. All these seats have registered less than 60 per cent turnout, some even slipping below 50 per cent levels. The common factor in voting across these cities was that the people had the option of clubbing voting holidays with usual weekend offs.
Delhi is among the next big cities that will go to polls on Saturday, May 25. On May 23, Buddha Purnima will be celebrated, a gazetted holiday for the working class. For those who don’t get an off on Saturdays, this will be an option for a long weekend with Saturday being a voting day off for many.
A similar situation was witnessed when Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar, home to Noida and Greater Noida, went to polls on April 26 – a Friday. The turnout in the two cities was lowest in decades. In Ghaziabad, the turnout was around 50 per cent – that means for every 100 voters, just 50 showed up for voting.
Speaking to News18, a poll body official said that they are confident that Delhi will change the narrative. “We did an extensive voter awareness drive and are confident that the city will set a high turnout example for the last phase,” the official said, demanding anonymity.
It is also important to note that Delhi in 2019 also witnessed a lower turnout at 60.6 per cent. All the seven Lok Sabha seats in the city reported lower turnouts than the national average. North-East Delhi saw the best turnout of 63.86 per cent and the New Delhi seat saw lowest – 56.91 per cent.
This time, in the 2024 Lok Sabha, at least 126 Lok Sabha seats that went to polls in the first five phases have seen turnout below 60 per cent, including 12 seats where the turnout was below 50 per cent.
Among the list of 12 seats were – Kalyan (47.08%), Mumbai South (47.7%), Hyderabad (48.48%), Secunderabad (49.04%), Mathura (49.41%), Thane (49.81%) and Ghaziabad (49.88%). Most of these cities have a majority of the working class population.
At least 19 Lok Sabha seats falling in major cities reported turnout between 51 and 55 per cent. This included Mumbai North central (51.42%), Porbandar (51.83%), Mumbai South central (51.88%), Lucknow (52.03%), Kanpur (53.05%), and Bangalore South (53.17%). Pune, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Mumbai North, North West and North East, Chennai Central and South, Bangalore Central and North, Agra, Nagpur, and Ahmedabad East and West were also part of this group.
While weekends may not be the sole factor keeping away the masses from voting, it is certainly a critical factor when it comes to the working class population. Voting day is a paid holiday for every working voter.
Heatwave Adding to The Woes
Adding to the woes, is the heatwave alert in the national capital. On Monday, as the country witnessed the fifth phase of polling across 49 seats, temperatures in several parts of Delhi crossed 47 degrees Celsius-mark. The weather office issued a ‘red alert’ in the city for the next five days due to severe heatwave conditions in the national capital. All the schools have been closed for summer vacations.
Haryana, Too, Going For Vote on May 25
Along with Delhi, Haryana, home to Gurgaon and Faridabad, will also go for voting in the sixth phase. Just like Noida and Ghaziabad of Uttar Pradesh, these two cities of Haryana are also a part of the national capital region.
In 2019, Gurgaon, officially called Gurugram, witnessed a turnout of 67.33 per cent and Faridabad saw 64.1 per cent voter turnout – much better than the national capital and other nearby towns.
The counting of votes will be done on June 4 after polling for the last phase voting on June 1.
Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website
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