The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) commissioned perhaps the largest ever Voter Survey in any country. The survey was conducted between October 2018 and December 2018, prior to the General Elections to the Lok Sabha 2019. It covered 534 Lok Sabha constituencies with 2,73,487 voters participating in this exercise spread among various demographics. The three main objectives of this survey were to identify the following: (i) voters’ priorities on specific governance issues, (ii) voters’ ratings of the government’s performance on those issues, and (iii) factors affecting voting behaviour.

Focusing on Uttarakhand, this report provides an analysis of 10 most important governance issues as rated by the voters of Uttarakhand (out of the 31 listed in the questionnaire). These voters’ priorities are further examined in relation to the performance of the Government on those issues as perceived by the respondents. A three-level scale of GOOD, AVERAGE and BAD was used, where GOOD was given weightage equal to 5, Average was weighted 3 and BAD was weighted as 1. The survey covered approximately 2,500 respondents across all 5 parliamentary constituencies of Uttarakhand.

KEY FINDINGS

§   The Uttarakhand Survey 2018 shows that Better Employment Opportunities (51.61%), Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (41.85%) and Agriculture Loan Availability (30.54%) are the top three voters’ priorities in overall Uttarakhand.

§   The performance of the government on all top three voters’ priorities of Better Employment Opportunities (2.45 on a scale of 5), Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (2.39) and Agriculture Loan Availability (2.20) was rated as Below Average.

§   In rural Uttarakhand, top most voters’ priorities were Better Employment Opportunities (47%), Agriculture Loan Availability (44%) and Electricity for Agriculture (42%).

§   The performance of the government on rural voters’ priorities of Better Employment Opportunities (2.44 on a scale of 5), Agriculture Loan Availability (2.20) and Electricity for Agriculture (2.19) was rated as Below Average.

§   In addition, the government has performed poorly on Agriculture Subsidy for Seeds/Fertilisers (2.29) and Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (2.39) in rural Uttarakhand.

§   For the urban voters in Uttarakhand, the top most priorities were Better Employment Opportunities (61%), Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (50%) and Traffic Congestion (47%).

§   The performance of the government on urban voters’ priorities of Better Employment Opportunities (2.48), Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (2.39) and Traffic Congestion (2.32) was rated as Below Average.

§   In addition, the government has performed poorly on Better Public Transport (2.41) and Better Roads (2.41) in urban Uttarakhand.