Voter count surges in North Karnataka districts

Six of Karnataka’s most backward districts — which are prone to people moving to other places like Goa, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai for work — have shown a spurt in voter enrolment, indicating an arrest of migration and increased awareness.

Along with reduction in migration, the Election Commission’s efforts are also seen as reasons for increased enrolment in the districts: Kalaburagi, Raichur, Yadgir, Koppal, Bidar and Chamarajanagar.

Political observers say on average, election-to-election voter enrolment increase is in the range of 4% and 10%, budgeting for first-time voters (based on population) and addition of existing voters to the list. Given that all these districts are backward and rural, the increase is in the range of 4-7%.

“While reduction in migration is one reason, I would add those born in the year 2000, and also the work of the Election Commission as reasons for such an increase. All these factors together have seen the number jump, but what this means to which party cannot be predicted,” said political analyst Sandeep Shastri.

The fact that all 35 constituencies have shown a higher than average growth in the number of electors indicates that the numbers reflect more than just new voters being added to the list. Of the 35 constituencies in these districts, 23 were won by Congress in 2013, while BJP and JD(S) got four each. The remaining four seats went to other parties.

“I have been travelling, especially in North Karnataka, and I was surprised to find that the number of people migrating from places like Gulbarga (Kalaburagi) has reduced significantly. A dipstick survey revealed that most of them were happy with rural employment and other social welfare schemes of the government which did away with their need to go elsewhere,” said political analyst Harish Ramaswamy.

Farmer leaders from North Karnataka pointed out that a good monsoon in 2017-18 brought back several people. In some constituencies, the jump is more than 20% while in most it ranges between 14% and 20%.

Successful government schemes like ‘Anna Bhagya’ and efficient implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has helped stem the exodus, say political experts. From 2013-2017, the government identified and cancelled more than 27 lakh fake ration cards, ensuring a check on pilfering in schemes like Anna Bhagya. Similarly, 9.2 lakh fake employment cards under MGNREGA were done away with.