The Gautam Budh Nagar administration has identified at least 401 polling booths or stations in the three assembly constituencies falling under the district – Noida, Dadri and Jewar – where less than 50% votes were cast during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2017.

Most of such booths were found to be located in the urban areas of Noida. While 307 such stations were in Noida, 76 were in Dadri and 18 in Jewar. Voting percentage or turnout is the percentage of voters who cast their ballot out of the total number of registered voters in the area.

In the 2017 UP Assembly polls, the maximum voting percentage recorded at a polling booth or station in the Noida Assembly constituency was 71.36%, the lowest among the three constituencies, while the minimum voting percentage recorded at a polling booth or station in the constituency was 24.95%.

In the Dadri Assembly constituency, the maximum voting percentage recorded at a polling booth or station in 2017 was 87.59% while the minimum was 20.56%.

The maximum voting percentage recorded at a polling booth or station in the Jewar Assembly constituency in 2017 was 87.79% and the minimum was 32.99%. According to officials, Jewar has been the best performer in terms of voter turnout in the past few elections.

District officials said they have now started the Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) program in areas with low turnout history and are making efforts to increase voting percentage. Former cricketer Madan Lal, a resident of Sector 26 in Noida, has been roped in as the district icon for encouraging residents to come out and vote.

“We know that urban city residents in many sectors do not come out to vote and we are trying to mobilise this population. Madan Lal has been roped in as the district icon and he will be involved in increasing awareness and other SVEEP activities as per his schedule,” B N Singh, district magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar, said.

Officials said various other activities, talks and presentations are being undertaken to increase awareness among voters. Several camps are also being held across the city under SVEEP that have been attended by about 50,000 people so far, they added. Nodal officer for SVEEP, Rajeev Tyagi, said that resident welfare associations (RWAs), villages and housing societies or colonies are now competing to show themselves as best performers.

“We are asking voters to compete as a group to show them as best performers during polls this year. We may see the results after the elections as to which RWAs, villages and societies were able to achieve 100% voter turnout. We are aiming to make Noida the best performing city in the country in terms of increase in voting percentage,” Rajeev Tyagi, general manager of Noida Authority, said.

He added that photo booths with placards and cutouts to promote voting, and introduction to voting machines has helped increase confidence of voters.

First Published: Mar 25, 2019 17:56 IST