Low turnout in BJP strongholds of Karnal, Panipat
KARNAL: A relatively lower voter turnout of 52.29% in the Karnal and 55.5% in Panipat city constituencies, both considered BJP strongholds, as compared to the last assembly elections has left the candidates, voters and poll observers speculating the reasons behind dip in polling percentage.
Of a total of 2.39 voters, only 1.25 lakh exercised their franchise in Karnal, represented by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The turnout in the segment was 68.02 per cent in the 2014 assembly polls. The poor turnout may prove a wrong Khattar’s claims of winning from Karnal with over a margin of over 1 lakh votes from his nearest rival.
In 2014, of 2.06 lakh voters, 1.40 lakh cast their vote in the segment. “I think the three-day holiday and the festival season were the reasons behind a poor voter turnout in Karnal. But it will not have any impact on the chief minister’s popularity. We are still hopeful of winning the seat with a margin of over 1 lakh votes as the other nominees will not get even the remaining 25,000 votes,” said BJP’S Karnal district president Jagmohan Anand.
In the Panipat city segment, the poll percentage was 68.6% in 2014. Of a total of 2.20 lakh voters, only 1.22 lakh came out to cast their votes in the segment, known in the country for its textile
LOW PERCENTAGE OF VOTING MAY PROVE WRONG KHATTAR’S CLAIMS OF WINNING FROM KARNAL BY OVER 1 LAKH VOTES
industry. In the last election, Rohita Rewri of the BJP won from the seat under the Narendra Modi wave securing 92,757 votes.
But this time, the BJP fielded Pramodi Vij from the constituency.
PD Sharma, a former professor of political science at Kurukshetra University, said, “Generally, lower turnout is seen as lack of anti-incumbency but it may also reflect the absence of faith of voters in the electoral process.”
Another poll observer said there was a considerable increase in first-time voters, but since the polling percentage was lower than the last election it also indicates that the new voters, especially in the cities, did not show much interest in voting.