Maharashtra will head to the polls tomorrow (November 20). Campaigning concluded on November 18, so it is up to the voters now to decide the fates of over 4,000 candidates contesting 288 seats. With the D-day so close, the Election Commission has made every effort to ensure people get their fingers inked on Wednesday.
The assembly elections are pivotal in determining the next government in Maharashtra which saw a period of splits and mergers that led to a change in governance twice since 2019. Apart from this, the polls will be a litmus test for the Bharatiya Janata Party as it tries to hold back its ground in the state after the Lok Sabha debacle.
While parties and their candidates bank on voters for their future in the third-largest Indian state, the question of low voter turnout in Mumbai looms large as the financial capital has had a bad record in this respect.
The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar made a special note of low voter turnout in Mumbai when he announced the election schedule. To address this, the EC deliberately scheduled the voting day for November 20, a midweek date, with the hope that it would encourage higher voter participation.
Kumar blamed ‘urban and youth apathy’ behind Mumbai’s history of low voter turnout.
The city has recorded abysmal voter participation in the past and has struggled to convince voters to come out and exercise their rights to franchise. In the 2014 assembly polls, not even 50 per cent of voters showed up to cast their votes and in the 2009 state elections, the city recorded 46.1 per cent.
However, the situation improved a little in the next decade with at least 50 per cent of voters being enthusiastic about the polling process. In 2019, Mumbai registered a voter turnout of 50.67 per cent while a turnout of 51.21 per cent was recorded in the 2014 assembly elections.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections too, the financial capital made a poor show in terms of voter turnout at 52.4 per cent.
There were a number of reasons why Mumbaikars did not turn up to vote in the Lok Sabha elections but the EC’s main concern in this polling season was urban apathy.
CEC Kumar has said that the commission has noted that urban voters often use polling day holidays combined with weekends for getaways, leading to lower voter turnout.
“We are really really concerned about urban apathy. We want to appeal to all voters in urban areas to come and vote. It is not a healthy trend which is reflected,” he said in October.
Meanwhile, voters complained of long queues, their names missing from the electorate and lack of facilities in polling booths for not exercising their rights to franchise during the general elections.
Apart from ensuring voters are equipped with basic facilities like drinking water, seating arrangements, waiting rooms etc at polling booths, the EC has taken extra measures to boost voter participation in the assembly polls.
During the campaigning period, the poll body launched an awareness drive called ‘Know Your Polling Station’ that helped voters locate nearby booths.
Mumbai civic chief and the metropolis’ district election officer Bhushan Gagrani on Monday said all barriers contributing to urban voter apathy have been addressed this time.
“I think the voting percentage will remain encouraging. We are intensively appealing to voters to come out this time. Almost 9 per cent of the total polling booths are in high-rise buildings and societies so the excuse of going down and reaching a polling station will be no more valid,” he said.
The four additional commissioners of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will have separate collectors of Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban districts carrying the designation of “additional district election officers”.
To ensure work does not stop people from casting their votes, the Mumbai district election office has instructed businesses and other establishments within Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) limit to grant paid leaves to their employees.
With inputs from agencies
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As Maharashtra goes to vote, eyes on Mumbai with poll panel hoping for a turnout boost
