Bengaluru city voter turnout drops to lowest in three elections

Bengaluru averaged 48.32% voter turnout in 2019 Lok Sabha election, while it was 55.97% in the 2014 elections.
Bengaluru city voter turnout drops to lowest in three elections
Bengaluru city voter turnout drops to lowest in three elections
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It seems like the multiple campaigns urging citizens to come out to vote failed to do the trick, as Bengaluru saw a dismal voter turnout for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka on Thursday. This is consistent with other cities such as Hyderabad and Chennai as well, which saw the lowest polling percentages in their states.

For the first time in the last three elections -- the 2014 general elections and the two Assembly polls in 2018 and 2013 -- all three Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengaluru city fell below the halfway mark in voter turnout percentages.

On Thursday, the three Bengaluru city constituencies - Bengaluru Central, Bengaluru North and Bengaluru South - saw the lowest turnouts among the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies that went to poll. Bengaluru averaged 48.32% voter turnout, with Bengaluru Central recording a voter turnout of 47.31%, Bengaluru North 48.28% and Bengaluru South 49.39%.

These percentages have dropped across the three constituencies since the 2014 Lok Sabha election, when Bengaluru Central saw a 55.64% turnout, Bengaluru North 56.53% and Bengaluru South 55.75%. The average voter turnout for the city was 55.97%.

In the last Assembly elections in May 2018, the average voter turnout was 54.24% — a greater turnout as compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In 2018, in Bengaluru Central, the turnout was 54.55%, Bengaluru North stood at 55.06% and Bengaluru South at 53.12%.

The city’s highest voter turnout throughout the three constituencies took place in the 2013 Assembly elections, where Bengaluru Central saw 56.92% turnout, Bengaluru South saw 55.43% and Bengaluru North at 60.72%.

On Thursday, the state witnessed 14 constituencies heading to polls to determine the fortune of 241 candidates. Voting began at 7 am and ended at 6 pm in 30,164 polling booths across the 14 Parliamentary seats. The 2.67-crore electorate in the first phase included 1.35 crore male and 1.32 crore female voters.

Polling took place in Udupi-Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga (SC), Tumakuru, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar (SC), Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru North, Bengaluru Central, Bengaluru South, Chikkaballapur and Kolar (SC). The remaining 14 constituencies will vote on April 23 in Karnataka’s second phase of elections.

While the turnout percentage might be interpreted as the apathy of the “urban elite”, fingers have been pointed at the inaccuracy of the voter list itself for Bengaluru. While independent scrutinies find multiple errors of duplications, deletions and error in entries, many willing eligible voters have been left out of the list. TNM on Thursday reported how a group held a mini-protest in front of a polling booth in north Bengaluru on this issue. So many argue that the official voter turnout is not a true reflection of voters participated in the city as it is based on the erroneous list.

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