From Shimla to Surat, urban apathy to voting persists: Election Commission | Gujarat Election News

NEW DELHI: Urban apathy — reflected in lower voter turnout in cities and towns Gujarat – reduced the turnout in Phase 1 of the poll in Gujarat to 63.3%, with a gap as wide as 34.9% between the impressive 82.7% turnout in the rural constituency. Dediapada village in Narmada district and a terrible turnout of 47.8% in Gandhi metropolitan area dham constituency in Kuchh district. In fact, none of the urban council constituencies in the list of Gujarat’s 26 constituencies recorded more than 65% turnout on December 1st.
Urban apathy in Gujarat is reminiscent of trends seen in Himachal Pradeshwent to the polls on November 12, with the municipality Shimla The council constituency recorded the lowest voter turnout of 62.5% compared to the state average of 75.6%.

The EC on Saturday shared that Surat, Rajkot and Jamnagar – all urban centers of Gujarat – recorded a lower turnout than the state average of 63.3% during the first phase of the campaign. Gujarat elections. Rajkot West received 57.1% of the vote, about 10.5 percentage points lower than the 2017 turnout. In Surat, all rural council seats recorded voter turnout. higher than the state average, with a difference in turnout between rural Mandvi AC (76.2% of voter turnout) and urban Karanj AC (50.5%) scored more than 25 percentage points. In Karanj’s case, turnout is not only nearly 13% below the state average, but 5.4 percent below its own low of 55.91% in 2017. .
Noting low voter turnout in urban centers with many concerns, chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday urged the voters of Gujarat to go out in large numbers during the second voting period, to make up for the low number of votes in the first phase. He emphasized that their ability to overcome the turnout in 2017 now lies in their greater participation in Phase 2.

The major cities and metropolitan areas of Gujarat not only recorded a drop in turnout compared to the 2017 election, but also far less turnout than the average voter turnout of 63.3% of the country. state.
To address the trend of urban indifference across the country, Mission directed all state/UT elections directors to identify low turnout ACs and polling stations in their jurisdictions to ensure awareness-raising interventions aimed at increasing voter turnout. As part of the EC’s efforts in this direction, the CEC and election commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey recently interacted with focal points of more than 200 voter awareness forums from industry sectors. different in Pune. Pune recorded one of the lowest turnout in the Lok Sabha 2019 election.