Despite multiple campaigns and initiatives by the Election Commission and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to improve voter participation, Bengaluru did not buck the trend of low turnout during the Karnataka Assembly elections on May 10.
Experts and civic group activists attribute the low turnout (Bengaluru: 55%, as compared to 73.19% for entire Karnataka) to errors in voter rolls, like duplication, deletion, and mismatched entries, and voters going from one booth to another searching for their names in the electoral rolls.
Also read: 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections | Double-engine model did not convince voters
The numbers for Bengaluru, released by the Election Commission on My 11, showed a voter turnout of 55%, barring postal votes and home voting. All four divisions in the city recorded a low voter turnout.
Among the four divisions, BBMP Central saw a turnout of 55.5%, BBMP North 52.59%, BBMP South 52.33%, and Bengaluru Urban 57.69%. In comparison, the voter turnout in all of Karnataka was 73.19%.
EC concern is voter apathy
On March 29, while announcing the schedule for the State elections, the Election Commission of India had noted urban apathy in Karnataka. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had said urban apathy is a major concern in Karnataka. EC had reached out to IT firms, colleges, start-ups to increase awareness on voting.
“In order to encourage greater voter participation, the election has been scheduled on a Wednesday, and not on a Monday or Friday, to reduce the possibility of people taking a day off and going out on a long weekend,” Mr Kumar added.
However, the Election Commission’s strategy did not result in a higher voter turnout this year too.
What is voter apathy?
Voter apathy is perceived apathy among those eligible to vote in an election. This can happen when voters are disillusioned with the electoral process or with the political parties and candidates, or when don’t think their vote will count, or when they don’t care much about the issues around them.
In February 2023, just before announcing the poll dates, teams of officials from the Election Commission had visited Karnataka to meet local officials and identify the polling stations where the voter turnout was lowest in the 2018 Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, find out the reasons for the same, and come up with solutions to increase the turnout.
Turnout in Bengaluru in previous elections
Against the 72.44% voter turnout in Karnataka during the 2018 Assembly elections, the four divisions in Bengaluru — BBMP South, North, Central and Bengaluru Urban — had recorded around 55% polling. Over 88% of the 8,615 polling stations in these four divisions (across the 28 Assembly constituencies) are in urban areas.
In 2013, as against the 71.83% polling in the State, the IT hub had recorded 52.83% polling. In 2008, it was even worse, at 47.3% in the four Bengaluru electoral divisions.
While the voting percentage in BBMP South was 55.04% in 2013, it fell to 51.98% in 2018. In BBMP North, the voting percentage declined from 56.58 in 2013 to 53.47 in 2018. Likewise, in BBMP Central, the voting percentage dropped from 57.71 in 2013 to 55.18 in 2018. In Bengaluru Urban, it fell from 62.03% in 2013 to 57% in 2018.
Menace of names missing from electoral rolls
Electoral roll analyst P.G. Bhat attributed the poor voter turnout to the ‘menace of missing names’ of genuine voters. “Elections officials had deleted lakhs of entries in an effort to clean up the rolls. However, there have been many wrong deletions, leading to the disenfranchisement of genuine voters,” he argued. “Since the electoral system is insincere, voters get confused and frustrated, and this leads to a poorer turnout.”
Mr Bhat said that the Election Commission should spend resources on correcting the electoral rolls instead of putting all their energy and time in conducting awareness drives.
Out-of-sync voter lists
Civic activists point out that improper deletions and duplicate entries are important reasons for low voter turnout.
“After every election, Bengaluru gets flak for low voter turnout. Did you know that Chennai had 59% turnout and Mumbai 51% in their last Assembly elections,” said civic activist Srinivas Alavilli.
Also read: 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections | How the Congress won an absolute majority
“The issue is not apathy, but out-of-sync voter lists in mega cities that have a lot of migration and inter-city movement. Duplicate entries, voters going to villages or home towns to vote, improper deletions — these are known issues. If the baseline itself is wrong, the percentage will also be incorrect,” he said.
“This is not to absolve citizens. There is certainly a need to improve voting percentage, and political parties need to introspect why their manifestos and candidates are not able to motivate voters to come out enthusiastically,” Mr. Alavilli added.
Best and worst performers in voter turnout in Bengaluru
This year, the worst three constituencies in terms of voter turnout are Bommanahalli (47.36%), C.V. Raman Nagar (47.44%), and BTM Layout (48.84%), while the best are Yelahanka (62.67%), Anekal (62.31%), and Yeshwantpur (63.23%).
Urban apathy in most capital cities in India
India has witnessed a more than four-fold increase in the number of electors since 1962, with the number crossing 94.5 crore in 2023, but almost one-third of them did not exercise their franchise in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Amid talks of taking the voter turnout to 75%, the Election Commission has recognised that people from urban areas, young voters, and migrants formed a big part of the 30 crore missing voters in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
According to data, of the bottom three parliamentary constituencies from select States, which recorded the lowest voter turnout in the 2019 general elections, nearly all the constituencies are in the capital districts of the respective States, or are part of urban centres.
For instance, Bangalore South, Bangalore Central and Bangalore North constituencies made up the bottom three in terms of voter turnout in Karnataka in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. All three seats are in the capital city.
This pattern can be observed in other States as well.
Below are the three parliamentary constituencies from select States that recorded the lowest voter turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
