Polling percentage stagnates in U’khand

THIS YEAR, WOMEN VOTING PERCENTAGE 67.2 % IS MORE THAN MALE VOTING PERCENTAGE 62.37 %

DEHRADUN: Voting percentage in the state has stagnated for the past three assembly polls between 65 and 66 percent, experts said on Thursday after the election commission reported 65.37 % polling in the February 14 state election.

The experts, who have been analysing election data of the past two decades, said the voting percentage in the first three assembly polls had witnessed an increase from 54.34 % in 2002 to 59.50 % in 2007 and finally to 66.185 % in 2012 polls. But after 2012, the voting percentage came down to 65.60 % in the 2017 election and in this election, it now stood at 65.37 %. This year, women voting percentage 67.2 % is more than male voting percentage 62.37 %.

“This means that people were eager to vote when the state was young after it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000. Now that enthusiasm has come down and we see stagnation in voting percentages around 65% in the state. This doesn’t auger well for the democracy in the hill state,” said Anoop Nautiyal of Dehradun-based Social Development for Communities Foundation.

Nautiyal, who has been analysing election data, said a vicious cycle impacts voting in hill constituencies. “Since comparatively there are fewer people due to migration, booths cover more villages than before. This makes it tough for elderly people to vote and leads to further drop in numbers. The EC needs to ponder on why voting is low in Uttarakhand?

There is stagnation since 2012. The EC also needs to relook at election day, can’t it be held later when the weather is better here. They should engage all stakeholders and do targeted campaigns to increase voting. It also needs to bring innovative practices to increase voting particularly in hill districts,” he said.

Political analyst SMA Kazmi said in 2017 polls, there was a strong Modi wave. “This time anti-incumbency and religious polarisation affected the election. I feel the fight between the Congress and BJP is neck to neck. In some areas like Haridwar and US Nagar, I feel people voted in the context of anti-incumbency, religious polarisation and farmer agitations.”

MM Semwal, who teaches political science at Garhwal university, said marginally lesser voting compared to last elections means basically that there was no strong wave for changing the government.

“But areas like Terai that have higher voter percentage, the anti-incumbency might have played a role,” he said.