Devil is in the details: Experts

BENGALURU: Apathy of Bengalureans to elections was once again in the limelight with the city recording a dismal voter turnout on Saturday.

However, stakeholders and others privy to how things work say the reasons for the poor turnout may be different from the perceived lack of enthusiasm among people to come out and vote. Experts say flawed electoral management and bureaucratic issues could be major contributors as well

Bengaluru recorded just 54.3% polling, the lowest in the state. The city’s turnout was lesser than 57.6% recorded in 2013. The slide comes at a time when the size of the city’s electorate leapt from 71.3 lakh in 2013 to 91.1 lakh.

Base number may be wrong

While BBMP’s aggressive efforts to increase voter enrolment has been applauded, experts say the remarkable addition of 30% voters has not been offset by deletions. The inflated size of the electorate means the very base on which the turnout is calculated is wrong, says P G Bhat, a voter list analyst.

According to Bhat, as per the standard 65% electoratepopulation (EP) ratio, the size of the electorate in Bengaluru should have been 78 lakh, given that the current population is 1.2 crore. And based on this calculation, the polling percentage in the city would be around 64% as 49.1 lakh voters in the city have exercised their franchise.

“An online survey we conducted revealed that more than 60% have voted. The polling percentage given by the election commission is wrong as they have relied on the wrong base number,” says Srinivas Alavilli, co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru.

Social activist R K Misra tweeted: “With 50% polling in Bengaluru, I am not sure if low voting % is due to erroneous electoral rolls or laziness of voters, but it is worrying! Aadharbased voter ID/voting will ensure genuine voters get to vote & ghost voters are removed.”

Natesh D B, BBMP assistant commissioner (elections), admitted that there could be discrepancies in the voter list. “It is possible that people have not deleted their names at their previous addresses before adding their names at the new address. We are disappointed with the final turnout,” said Natesh.

Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar said the EC would look into the issues.

DOUBLE ENTRY TO BE BLAMED

Dasarahalli assembly segment in Bengaluru recorded the lowest (48%) voter turnout. “Dasarahalli has a large number of voters who have migrated from villages in Tumakuru district. They are voters in their villages as well as here. But these people go home en masse and vote there,” said R Manjunath, JD(S) candidate from Dasarahalli.

HOSKOTE TOPS STATE

At 90%, Hoskote assembly seat on the outskirts of Bengaluru recorded the highest voter turnout in the state. Expressing a sense of pride, Sharat Bache Gowda, BJP candidate from Hoskote, attributed it to the massive campaign carried out by BJP national president Amit Shah and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, apart from the outreach initiative taking by his party.

EVMS PLAYED TRUANT

CEO Sanjiv Kumar admitted that technical glitches in EVMs were unprecedented. He said 1,707 of the 57,786 VVPATs deployed had to be replaced during polling. Also, 458 of the 64,297 ballot units were replaced during the voting hours. A majority of incidents reported in Bengaluru were from places where third-generation M3 EVMs had been used on a pilot basis.

“It definitely affected progress of polling. But I don’t think this is the main cause for the low turnout,” he said.