BOTH SIDES SAY GUJARAT OURS
AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI:
Ahead of Monday’s count of the Gujarat election, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) both seemed confident of forming the next government in the state which the latter has governed for 22 years.
On Sunday, people at the BJP’s HQ in Lutyens’ Delhi were stocking up on firecrackers and ordering sweets to be distributed.
On Saturday, Congress leaders involved with the Gujarat campaign met their new president Rahul Gandhi soon after he took over and said the party would win between 105 and 110 seats in the 182-member assembly and form the next government. The general feeling in that meeting was that the only way the Congress could win less than 80 seats was if there had been some tampering with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
AHMEDABAD: The number of people who voted in the recentlyconcluded Gujarat elections dropped by almost 84 lakh in comparison to those who exercised their franchise in the 2012 polls, the Election Commission data showed.
The final voter turnout in this year’s state elections was 68.41%, about three percentage points less than the 71.34% registered in the last assembly polls.
Although the dip may appear to be marginal in percentage terms, it reveals that while 3.8 crore people voted in 2012, their numbers slipped down to 2.96 crore this time.
“The trend indicates lack of enthusiasm among the rural voters compared to 2012. But we should also not forget that 2012 saw higher turnout as it was pitched as the last elections of Narendra Modi before he makes a leap to Delhi,” said political analyst Jwalant Chhaya.
The region-wise analysis showed the turnout was higher in the north and central parts of the state than in the western coastal region that includes Saurashtra, which traditionally had been a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stronghold.
North and central Gujarat, which have a large number of urban centres, recorded a better voter turnout than southern Gujarat.
Experts said the voter turnout was generally lower in the rural constituencies dominated by Patidars, who have traditionally been BJP supporters. They constitute about 12% of the state’s population and can influence outcome in 60 of the 182 seats.
The Patidar-dominated Amreli district recorded the lowest turnout of 61.29% whereas the tribal district of Narmada saw the highest voter turnout of 79.15%.
The EC data showed higher voter turnout in the constituencies that have a sizeable other backward classes (OBCs) and tribal population.
A total 1,828 candidates contested the polls for 182 seats across Gujarat’s 33 districts. The BJP had fielded its candidates on all 182 seats while the Congress had named 176 nominees. The grand old party had gone into the elections with a sharing arrangement over five seats with the Bhartiya Tribal Party and it had not fielded any candidate against independent candidate Jignesh Mevani in Vadgam.
The trend indicates lack of enthusiasm among rural voters compared to 2012. But 2012 also saw a higher turnout as it was pitched as Narendra Modi’s last polls before he leaps to Delhi. JWALANT CHHAYA, political analyst