Bengaluru voter turnout pulled down by faulty electoral rolls?

Bengalureans have been at the receiving end for registering a voter turnout of just 55.34% this Assembly elections.

However, even the Election Commission of India seems to agree that the turnout percentage was pulled down because of faulty and inflated electoral rolls and the actual turnout in the city may be in consonance with the State average turnout of around 70% at least.

“There was no door-to-door survey during the updation of electoral rolls in the city. Revenue inspectors, who were put in charge of the process, seem to have depended on local political leaders to update the list, rather than an independent survey. Local politicians have an interest to prevent a thorough updation of the list,” said a senior ECI official.

Names of those who are dead and those who have moved out of the area seem to have not been deleted in several areas, while those who have moved out may also have their names added in other areas, leading to duplications.

Electoral roll analyst and activist P.G. Bhat says there was an inflation by at least 20 lakh in Bengaluru. “The projected population for the city for 2018 is 1.31 crore. Census India records that 41.1% of the population is below 18 years, which brings the eligible voters in the city to about 77.22 lakh. But the electoral rolls in the city for Assembly elections was 91.13 lakh strong. This after a conservative estimate of around 6 lakh eligible voters not enrolled, taking the estimated inflation to around 20 lakh voters. The turnout of Bengaluru estimated to this corrected approximation will be over 71%,” he said.

“Hoskote and Ramanagaram, adjacent constituencies to the city, have recorded over 80% turnout, and have clean electoral rolls unlike the city. EC will take measures to correct this anomaly,” said a senior official.