Voter turnout in the Lok Sabha election has been on a declining trend in recent general elections in the central region notwithstanding the intense awareness campaign by the Election Commission to attract more voters to the polling booth in the run-up to the elections.
All the six Lok Sabha constituencies in the region — Tiruchi, Karur, Perambalur, Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai and Nagapattinam — have shown a gradual decrease in voter turnout in the last three general elections since 2014.
Official figures released here on Saturday showed that 67.52% of the voters in the Tiruchi Lok Sabha constituency exercised their franchise on Friday. Of the 15,53,985 voters in the constituency, 10,49,210 cast their vote. While the polling percentage among men was 67.66, it was 67.39 among women and 42.68 among Others.
The Gandharvakottai Assembly segment in the constituency recorded the maximum turnout of 73.80%. The segment had topped with 75.59 % polling in 2019 and 78.30% in 2014 too. The polling percentage was 72.87 in Srirangam, 68.32 in Pudukottai, and 66.62 in Tiruverumbur segment this election. The lowest polling among the six Assembly segments was recorded in Tiruchi West segment this time with only 61.75% voters exercising their franchise. The voter turnout was slightly better in Tiruchi East at 62.46%.
As per the Election Commission website, the constituency had recorded 69.5% polling in 2019 and 71.28% in 2014, showing a steady decline in the voter turnout despite the awareness campaign run as part of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP).
District Collector M. Pradeep Kumar said the summer heat could be one of the reasons for the lower turnout. “We had carried out various awareness programmes to improve polling percentage. The voter turnout is usually low in urban areas; we need to focus more in these areas,” he said while speaking to reporters here on Saturday.
The polling percentage in the other five Lok Sabha constituencies in the central region too showed a declining trend over the past three general elections.
Karur Lok Sabha constituency recorded 78.61% polling on Friday slightly lower than 79.55% recorded in 2019 and 80.65% in 2014.
The polling percentage in Perambalur was put at 77.43. The constituency had registered 79.26% voter turnout in 2019 and 80.25% in 2014.
In Nagapattinam Lok Sabha constituency, 71.89% of the voters cast their votes which was much lower than the 2019 (76.93%) and 2014 (77.86%) figures. The Mayiladuthurai constituency registered 70.08% polling this time as against 73.93% recorded in 2019 and 76.03% registered in 2014. The polling percentage in Thanjavur too has declined since 2014.
