Two of the Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh – Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar – went to polls on Friday, recording the worst turnout since 2014 – below 55%. The two seats, also falling in the national capital region, are considered important in India’s electoral politics since they came into existence in 2008.
While in Ghaziabad, the turnout was just 49.65%, in Gautam Buddha Nagar it was a little better at 53%, data from the Election Commission of India as of early Saturday shows. The voter turnout for the two seats was never at par with the national average, but this time it was exceptionally low when compared to the last two poll numbers. The average voter turnout for India in 2014 was 66.44%, which improved to 67.40% in 2019.
Dip in attendance
Both the seats have reported a drop in turnout over the years. In 2014, the voter turnout in Ghaziabad was close to 57% which came down to close to 56% in 2019. For Gautam Buddha Nagar, in both 2014 and 2019, the turnout was about 60%, with a marginal difference.
Both Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar Lok Sabha seats have five assemblies each. The turnout this time across these assemblies was the lowest in the last 10 years, the numbers analysed by News18 show. In the 2014 and 2019 general elections, the two Lok Sabha seats were bagged by the BJP, and in the last state elections, the 10 assemblies falling under the two constituencies also voted for the saffron party.
The two seats came into existence in 2008 after delimitation.
In the last three Lok Sabha elections since 2009, the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat has voted only for BJP – Rajnath Singh in 2009 and General VK Singh in 2014 and 2019.
In the polling done on Friday, the battle was between BJP’s incumbent MLA Atul Garg, and Congress leader Dolly Sharma, who was also backed by the Samajwadi Party. A total of 14 candidates were in the fray, including the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Thakur Nandkishor Pundhir.
In Gautam Buddha Nagar, also formed in 2009, BJP’s Mahesh Sharma has been elected twice – in 2014 and 2019. Before that, in 2009, BSP’s Surendra Singh Nagar was elected from the seat.
While the BJP has renominated Sharma, the SP has fielded Mahendra Singh Nagar, also backed by the Congress. The seat had 15 candidates in the fray, including BSP’s Rajendra Singh Solanki.
While the voter turnout has dropped across the constituency, the urban section reported the lowest voter participation. In Noida, the urban belt of Gautam Buddha Nagar, for every 100 voters, only 47 turned up – with the turnout at 47%. In Ghaziabad, the urban areas are Sahibabad (42.57%) and Ghaziabad (47.86%).
The rural section of the two seats reported better turnout – Dholana (in Ghaziabad) almost touching 60%. Similarly, Khurja was also close to 60% while Sikandrabad reported a 60% turnout.
Urban apathy and weekend polling
The Election Commission has been battling with urban apathy for a very long time and every now and then the issue has been raised.
In March 2023, while announcing the dates for the Karnataka assembly polls, the commission had said that polling on midweek bars the urban working class from clubbing the voting holiday with regular offs and takes away the option of a long weekend. The polling in the state was done on Wednesday.
Speaking to the media, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said that had the polling been scheduled for a Monday or a Friday, people would have clubbed it with the weekend. If it were a Tuesday or a Thursday, it would still be possible to turn it into a mini holiday and people would have left town.
“Now, the polling is on Wednesday and, for that, they have to take two leaves at least…This is what we have done in Karnataka. I am sure people will not sleep in and step out to vote,” Kumar had said.
But this time, in the two phases of Lok Sabha polls held so far, the polling was done on Friday and both times, the voter turnout was lower than in 2019, except for a few seats.
While polling on Friday may not be the biggest contributing factor to low voter turnout, it may play a critical role, especially in the urban working class – a major population of both Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar.
Five phases of polling are still left before the counting of votes on June 4. Of these five, two phases will be conducted on Mondays and two on Saturdays. One of the phases will be conducted on Tuesday.
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