Metros continue with 'urban apathy': EC over low voter turn out in urban cities

Representational Image. File Pic

The Election Commission on Monday lamented the low turn in urban constituencies in various cities such as Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Lucknow. The poll body said said that these cities have continued the trend of "urban apathy" as noticed in the 2019 parliamentary polls.

However, it noted that in Mumbai, celebrities and common citizens alike, waited patiently for their turn to cast their vote.

Celebrities from various walks of life have partnered with the Commission to motivate voters to exercise their franchise in the elections, it said.
Various such motivational videos were uploaded on their social media platforms.

On Sunday too, the Commission had pointed out that Mumbai, Thane and Lucknow have shown apathy towards voting in the past and asked these city dwellers to turnout in higher numbers.

The poll authority had noted that in the past, these cities have "suffered" from urban apathy in voting.

"The Commission specially calls upon these city dwellers to erase the stigma by turning out in higher numbers," it said.

On May 3 too, while referring to voter turnout in phase two, the Commission had said it was "disappointed" with the turnout level in some metropolitan cities.
The EC had last month assembled many metro commissioners here to work out a strategy to fight urban apathy.

Urban and youth apathy is described as a phenomenon when young voters and those living in metros fail to turn up at polling stations on the election day.
So far, the last four phases have registered a voter turnout of 66.95 per cent.

On May 13, the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency recorded about 38 per cent polling, the second highest in a few decades, while Baramulla on Monday recorded an all-time-high voter turnout of 59 per cent.

In the fifth phase on May 20, according to the Election Commission, West Bengal recorded the highest voter turnout (73 per cent), followed by Ladakh (67.15 per cent), Jharkhand (63.00 per cent), Odisha (60.72 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (57.79 per cent), Jammu and Kashmir (54.67 per cent), Bihar (52.60 per cent) and Maharashtra (49.01 per cent)

Around 45.1 crore electors have exercised their franchise in the last four phases. As in February this year, the total number of voters stood at around 97 crore.

(With inputs PTI)