Andheri bypoll: Only 31 per cent voters turn out

Rutuja Latke of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) after casting her vote. Pis/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

The Andheri bypoll on Thursday saw very little turnout as only 31.74 per cent of voters cast their votes. It was a working day, the Diwali vacation was still on for some, and a one-sided by-poll were being cited as the reasons behind the low count. In the 2019 election for the same seat, the voter turnout was 53.45 per cent and in 2009 the voting percentage was 49.70.

The by-election for the Andheri assembly constituency seat after the death of MLA Ramesh Latke was in the limelight since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded a candidate - Murji Patel - against Rutuja Latke, wife of Ramesh Latke. The Shiv Sena (Thackeray-led) was to fight with a new symbol for the first time. But after the BJP withdrew from the election it seemed one-sided and this reflected in voters' turnout.

Nilesh Bakade, who cast his vote at Vasanji Academy poll centre said, "I didn't get leave from work. But voting is our right and we all are well aware of politics. I decided to cast my vote before going to the office." Till 10 am, the Vasanji Academy poll centre had at least a few queues and voters took around 10 to 15 minutes to cast their votes. But after 11 am, hardly a few voters come. The situation was more or less the same at other centres also.

Also Read: NOTA to play spoilsport in Andheri bypoll?

Supriya Mandwe, a homemaker, who came to the Shri Chinai College centre to vote said, "I am well aware of the change in poll symbol of one of the political parties." Nancy Mandes, a voter at Little Flower High School said that she came to elect a good candidate. "In democracy it is our duty to select good leaders who can work for the community. Our earlier MLA was a very nice person who was always ready to help," said Mandes.

Nitin Marolia and his mother Bhanu Marolia also cast their votes at the same centre. "We always come to vote and adjusted our work accordingly. There is no need to take leave from work for voting," said Nitin. At Marol, in Muslim dominated areas, voters came in comparatively large numbers to vote. Sayyad Shahana Wajid Ali and her family came together to vote at St. John the Evangelist high School. She said, "We always come together. It is our right to vote."

Why few voters

"The number of voters was very little compared to earlier elections. It is a working day and many people have gone out of town because of the Diwali vacation. It is a by-election and perhaps everybody thinks that it is one-sided," an on-duty security officer analysed the situation. "There was no other party contesting. This will certainly impact voting percentage," said Thackeray Sena leader advocate Anil Parab.

‘A normal trend'

"This is a normal trend in by-elections. Voting percentages reduce in by-elections. Most of the time political parties' committed voters come to vote," said political expert Abhay Deshpande. It is believed that the current representative gets the benefits if the voting is less. "But this formula does not apply everywhere. However, in this election, the Thackeray Sena will get the benefit as they have worked hard," Deshpande added.

While talking about NOTA, Deshpande further said, "Relatively more voters prefer NOTA in this constituency. Even in the 2019 election, 4,311 voted for NOTA." There were 2,71,502 voters in the assembly constituency. Out of this 31.74 per cent turned out to vote. In 2019, 1,47,863 voters turned out for the election. Latke garnered 62,773 votes as opposed to Patel's 45,508 votes.

(Inputs from Sameer Surve)