Lok Sabha elections 2024: Maval witnesses historically low voter turnout

Voting began at a sluggish pace, with only a slight increase of 5 per cent during the first two hours of polling. Representation Pic

During the fourth phase of polling, the Maval Parliamentary Constituency, encompassing six assembly constituencies, experienced a historically low voter turnout on Monday. As of 5 PM, the turnout stood at a mere 46.03 per cent, with expectations of a slight increase to just over 50 per cent by the close of polling. The six assembly constituencies within Maval are Panvel, Karjat, Uran, Maval, Chinchwad, and Pimpri.

Sources from the district administration said, "The overall voting began at a sluggish pace, with only a slight increase of 5 per cent recorded during the first two hours of polling, which commenced at 7:00 am. By 5:00 pm, Uran had the highest voter turnout in the entire assembly constituency, reaching approximately 55.05 per cent. Pimpri and Panvel witnessed the lowest voter turnout, with rates of 42.2 and 42.24 per cent respectively, by 5pm.

Anticipated a higher turnout

"All the six-assembly constituencies had a collective of over 25.85 lakh voters, who were to cast their vote on May 13, at 2,566 polling stations that were set up in the entire Maval Parliamentary Constituency," explained a district administration official.

"The district administration had been working day and night to ensure a large public turnout for voting and were anticipating the percentage of the vote to go up to 60 to 65 per cent, as compared to the overall voting percentage of 59.57 per cent recorded in 2019," the official said.

"It is unfortunate that even after requesting people every year between April, June, and December to come forward and make request for any correction in the electorate/voters list, people wait till the date of election and then crib of their name not found in the voter list, this is being a bit unfair," the official added.

Voter slip issued early

"We had availed special permission from the competent authorities to start distributing the voters list almost 10 to 12 days before the actual date of the election (May 13) instead of the mandatory practice of five days, and had almost distributed 90 per cent to the voters, well in time, still the overall voting percentage was below expectation," said the official.

When asked the reason for the same, the officer candidly said, "May be a long weekend." However, on serious note, he said, "Through the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) program, we have diligently covered not just residential neighborhoods but also industrial areas like Maval. Our efforts extended to educating the public, including those within industrial belts, about their voting rights and how to access their voting details online and via mobile applications."

Challenges faced

"Some of our block development officials and election duty personnel faced obstacles when attempting to enter certain upscale cooperative housing societies for the distribution of voter slips. In response, we enlisted the help of the District Deputy Registrar of the Cooperative Department. With their intervention, election staff gained access to these housing societies and successfully distributed the slips," said the official.

Technical glitches

The officer said, that barring a few incidents of technical glitches, during the mock polling and actual polling, overall polling across the 2,566 polling stations went smoothly, with no untoward incidents. When asked to elaborate, the officer said, "During the mock polling on May 13, before the actual polling commenced, 25 ballot units (BUs), 6 counting units (CUs), and 14 voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines encountered technical glitches and were promptly replaced. Subsequently, when the actual voting began, we replaced 12 BUs, 4 CUs, and 25 VVPAT machines due to technical issues. The polling process resumed smoothly after the faulty machines were replaced in accordance with the established procedure."

52.49% turnout
A Voter turnout of 52.49 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Monday in 11 of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra, where polling is underway in the fourth phase, the state electoral office said. Polling began at 7 am and ended at 6 pm in Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, and Beed constituencies.