BMC ELECTIONS 2022 : ILLITERATE ACTIONS OF LITERATE VOTERS
(The Quiver) : India’s so called democratic literate voters are not participating in elections polling rather preferring to stay away from elections , by abstaining themselves from casting their votes. Such actions of urban voters are posing a big question mark on the efficiency of constitutional framework of the country.
Elections are considered to be the biggest democratic festival of the country then why urban voters are lagging behind from their responsibilities? What are the factors obstructing them from participation?
In the latest Municipality elections 2022 more than half of the voters choose not to visit the polling booths. Maximum number of literate population are hailing from capital city Bhubaneswar , Cuttack and Bramhapur , but if we go through the data which shows the percentage of overall votes in the the Muncipilaties elections , the results are disappointing – 50% voting recorded in Bhubaneswar , while Bramhapur went with 47% polling.
This clearly shows that 50% of urban voters did not cast their votes in this BMC elections 2022. In a straightway it can be said that the new BMC government is elected by only half of the total voters , while the other half have no approval for the ruling government.
Slum dwellers and voters from the lower economic sections were found at the polling booth in large numbers, while the upper, the middle class sections and educated mass stayed away from polling. Here questions arises – Should the new government be acceptable without half of its citizens? which factors are haunting the urban voters ?
According to opponent political parties, especially leaders from the saffron party alleged that inadequate arrangements at polling stations including EVM glitches discouraged many voters from exercising franchise. If so then why the election commission is not considering this issue?
While some of the other considered reasons by the experts are
Voters turnout in urban areas remains comparatively low as many people get transferred to other places or leave the cities after their retirement .
Although the government grant paid holidays to the employees to cast their votes , the private offices do not provide the same facilities to their employees thus obstructing them from voting.
Many of the eligible people are not able to register themselves in the voter list as the registration process is very slow.
Retired professor of Political Science at Utkal University Brahmananda Satapathy, however, blamed ‘intellectual apathy’ as one of the biggest factors for poor turnout. Prof Satapathy said the mindset of the intellectual masses, constituting a sizable population of the city, that the day of voting is a holiday for them is one of the biggest reasons why polling always remains less in big cities.
Some also thinks whether they vote or not , will not affect the elected government as more number of voters belong to the poor section and political mafias easily buy them by giving adequate amount of money, thus their opinions have no value.
There should be an amendment in electoral process that the eligible voters who remains away from casting their votes should be penalized and punished under law . If the elections conducted in the country will not have 100% consent of voters then nothing can be a bigger threat than this to the constitutional setup of the country.
