For Chief Electoral Officer
Ashwani Kumar
, it was a major achievement when Mumbai recorded its highest turnout since 1991 on Monday. In an interview with TOI, Kumar said the comprehensive strategy drafted by the
Election Commission of India helped overturn urban apathy. Now the biggest challenge will be ensuring the enthusiasm is maintained during the assembly polls. Excerpts:
Q: How do you analyse the massive turnout for the Lok Sabha
polls, particularly in Mumbai? A: We began preparations for the Lok Sabha elections from January 1, 2018. After revision of the electoral register, we launched a massive voter awareness programme. Significantly, the
Twitter handle of Mumbai police came to our rescue. I am told it is being followed by 40 lakh people, including most film stars and celebrities in Mumbai. We involved Mumbai police, and launched a voter awareness campaign in all colleges. We successfully targeted first-time voters and students for the 'Go for Voting' campaign, and our toll-free helpline 1950 too made a difference. We made all possible efforts, but were still pleasantly surprised when the turnout turned out to be the highest in the recent past.
Q: The extended weekend did not affect the voters... A: We feared that in Mumbai, the voting percentage would drop owing to the long weekend and in rural areas, owing to the heat and drought. Fortunately, thanks to our sustained campaign and the role played by NGOs, the turnout in Mumbai was quite high and even in the rural parts of the state, there was huge participation.
Q: How many new voters were added? A: We received 1.57 crore applications during registration. Of them, 67.31 lakh were enrolled as new voters, and in case of 56.05 lakh, there was correction in name or address, while 17.16 lakh names were deleted after verification.
Q: How do plan to deal with complaints of malfunctioning EVMs or VVPATs... A: Certainly, there were complaints, but they minor and all of them were attended to immediately. There were problems in 0.51% ballot units, 0.52% control units and 1.85% VVPATs across the state. In certain cases, the EVMs and VVPATs were replaced.
Q: There was massive seizure of cash... A: Law-enforcing agencies seized Rs 53.08 crore cash, gold worth Rs 70 crore, liquor worth Rs 34 crore. They have registered 17,588 offences.
Q: What's on the agenda? A: We will find out the shortcomings in the present system, make corrections and ensure that we set a record in turnout.
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