ECI appeals to voters of Gujarat to come out in large numbers during the second phase of elections to compensate for low voting in the first phase
Gandhinagar/Shimla/New Delhi: Gujarat cities showed an urban apathy trend during the first phase of voting in Assembly elections on December 1, 2022, thus pulling down the percentage of voting in the first phase.
The Gandhidham Assembly Constituency (AC) in Kuchchh district, which has industrial establishments, recorded lowest polling percentage of 47.86%, a sharp decline of 6.34% from the last election in 2017, recording a new low. The second lowest voting was in the Karanj constituency of Surat, which was 5.37 % lower than its own low of 55.91% in 2017.
All the 26 ACs which recorded more than 65 % voting were rural and not even one urban AC crossed the mark of 65% voting.
Major cities/urban areas of Gujarat not only recorded a decline in voting percentage as compared to the 2017 elections but also voted much less than the State average of 63.3%. The decline in Rajkot west was very sharp at 10.56%.
Surat, Rajkot and Jamnagar recorded lower than the State average of voter turnout of 63.3% in the first phase of Gujarat elections. While the voting percentage increased in many constituencies, the average voter turnout figure was dampened by urban apathy of these districts just as during the recently concluded general election to the legislative assembly of Himachal Pradesh, the urban Assembly Constituency of Shimla recorded the lowest at 62.53% (less by 13 percentage point) as against the State average of 75.6%.
Noting the voter turnout figures with concern, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar, on behalf of ECI, today appealed to the voters of Gujarat to come out in large numbers during the second phase so as to compensate for low voting in 1st phase. The possibility of surpassing the 2017 voting percentage now lies in their increased participation only.
The voting percentage in the first phase of the Gujarat election in 2017 was 66.79%. Had the voting percentage in these Assembly Constituencies been even equal to the level of even their own voting percentage in the 2017 election, the state average would have been more than 65%.
There was a conspicuous gap in voting turnout between rural and urban constituencies. The gap in voter turnout was as wide as 34.85% if compared to the rural constituency of Dediapada in Narmada district which recorded an 82.71% turnout of voters and that in the urban AC of Gandhidham in Kuchchh district which witnessed 47.86% of voter turnout. Also, the average turnout in important urban areas was lower than the turnout in rural constituencies.
Within many districts, rural constituencies in those districts voted much more than the urban constituencies of the same district. For example-in Rajkot, there was a decline in all the urban ACs.
Similarly, in Surat, all rural Assembly Constituencies voted more in %age terms than urban Assembly Constituencies of Surat. The difference between the lowest urban AC of Surat and with highest rural AC was as much as 25%.
To address the urban apathy trend across the country, the Commission has directed all Chief Electoral Officers to identify low voter turnout ACs and Polling stations to ensure targeted awareness interventions to increase voting percentage.
– global bihari bureau
