Bengaluru
Does half of Bengaluru not vote? Or is there something more to it? As the numbers for Bengaluru released by the Election Commission on Thursday showed 55% voter turnout barring postal votes and home voting, experts and civic group activists say errors in voter rolls like duplication, deletion, and mismatched entries that send voters from one booth to another are reasons for the underwhelming numbers.
The Election Commission and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) undertook various awareness drives to ensure better voter turnout, including some with resident welfare associations and other civic groups. The Election Commission had also fixed a mid-weekday to prevent people from taking advantage of the “voting day holiday” by clubbing it with the weekend. However, Bengaluru’s turnout did not see any major deviation from earlier trends. 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%. Meanwhile, Karnataka voter turnout is at 73.19%.
