Poll panel to discuss ways to boost turnout in urban areas

New Delhi: Apart from ensuring that polling in Maharashtra and Jharkhand was scheduled mid-week on Wednesday to prevent voters from clubbing it with the weekend for a vacation, the Election Commission will call a meeting of municipal commissioners and district election officers of constituencies with a history of low turnouts, to discuss ways to tackle urban voter apathy.EC said 62 of the 64 urban assembly constituencies in the 2019 assembly polls in Maharashtra had recorded voting below the state's 60.6% average, with urban Colaba recording the lowest voting at 40.1% and rural Jalgaon and Bhusawal clocking 45.4% and 48.9% turnouts respectively. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls too, six parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra — Kalyan, Pune, Thane, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai South and Mumbai South Central — were among the 10 urban PCs with the lowest voting.During the last assembly elections in states like Haryana, Karnataka and Gujarat, a notable difference was seen between turnouts in certain urban constituencies and the state's average. For instance, Gurgaon and Faridabad recorded 51.8% and 53.7% polling against Haryana's 67.9% average in the recent assembly polls. Also, Bomanhalli AC in Bengaluru South recorded 47.5% polling as against the state's 73.8% average. Gandhidham in Gujarat clocked 48.1% turnout, way lower than the state's 64.8% average.Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar appealed to voters in urban areas, particularly of Maharashtra, to participate in elections and buck the urban voter apathy trend."We are really concerned about urban apathy. We want to appeal to all voters in urban areas to come and vote. It is not a healthy trend which is reflected," he said.
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