Heat wave, hate tide & voter apathy in 1st two rounds

MUMBAI: The “Chunav ka Parv, Desh ka Garv” has so far failed to infuse much enthusiasm among the voters as the voting percentage has hovered around 60% to 62% in the first two-phases.

These percentages were supposed to have been tentative when the voting ended on April 19 and 26 for the 1st and 2nd rounds respectively. But the Election Commission of India declared only on April 30 the final figures affirming that the voting was above 66% in both the rounds. The delay has raised many an eyebrow but the ECI did not provide any reason for the delay.

Voting in 191 Lok Sabha constituencies out of the total 543 is over. The heat wave and the hate tide spurred by star campaigners could be the reasons behind the voter apathy, political analysts opine.

Elections in the third phase will be held on May 7 for 94 seats and the hate wave does not show any signs of ebbing with charges and counter charges being flung by opposing leaders.

The trend will worsen if the Election Commission of India does not intervene effectively and decisively, an analyst said. The ECI action has been only lackadaisical so far as the notices have gone to the chiefs of the BJP and the Congress and not to the speakers accused of violating the model code of conduct.

The fourth phase of polling for 96 seats will be held on May 13, followed by the fifth on May 20 (49 seats), sixth on May 25 (57 seats) and the seventh and final phase on June 1 for the remaining 57 seats.

On paper, the ECI says it has been addressing the pressing issue of urban and youth apathy in elections. The voting percentage in the General Election to Lok Sabha – 2019 was 67.4%, for which the Commission has taken as a challenge to improve upon, just like its mission of “No Voter to be Left Behind”.

The Election Commission has captured election festivities under its umbrella theme “Chunav ka Parv, Desh ka Garv” (Elections: The Biggest Festival and Pride of the Nation). The overarching theme of this campaign depicts elections as the biggest festival of democracy, the pride of an individual and the country.

The enthusiasm among the youth also remained tepid despite the ECI campaign #MeraPhelaVoteDeshkeLiye aimed at encouraging first-time voters to participate in the electoral process.

The style of campaigning has so far not stirred up any major enthusiasm among the voters which is why the Prime Minister keeps on targeting the women and young voters to come out in large numbers. The worry over the poor turnout is writ large on the face. The ongoing confusion among the INDIA bloc partners has added to the dampening of spirits among voters as they are unable to figure out the alternative to BJP. Be that as it may, the ECI needs to launch campaigns targeting the hate mongers with ruthless action as the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has himself indicated. He needs to walk-the-talk, political observers say and point out that this will help in reinstating the people’s confidence in the electoral process.

The total electorate in the country works out to 96.88 crore as compared to 89.6 crore in 2019 and each vote counts in the interest of the country’s democracy.