8.5 lakh voters in UP missing from action
The lower voter turnout in these assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh as compared to the 2002 state polls could be explained to some extent by the large number of “missing” voters.
By Bharti Jain, TNN |
NEW DELHI: The lower voter turnout in these assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh as compared to the 2002 state polls could be explained to some extent by the large number of “missing” voters — nearly 8.5 lakh of the total electorate of 11.43 crore — meticulously tracked by the EC and “marked” for a closer scrutiny at the polling stations.
This disclosure came from none other than deputy election commission R Bhattacharya even as he put the overall turnout in the seven-phase UP election at 46%, only marginally lower than the 48.03% polling recorded in the 2004 Lok Sabha poll.
When asked if the missing voters, or those listed in the electoral rolls who have not been residing at the addresses mentioned against their names for some time due to their temporary dislocation to other states for employment or other purposes, could have accounted for the higher turnout in earlier polls, especially the 2002 election which recorded a 53.7% turnout, Mr Bhattacharya said it was a fair possibility.
And thanks to the extra vigil mounted by the EC on those voting against the names on the missing list — suspicion of them being impersonators was high — no more than 1% actually turned up at the booths.
According to sources in the EC, when it came to micro-level analysis of the missing voters, in quite a few constituencies, it turned out that their number matched or even exceeded the victory margin of the last poll.
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According to a senior commission official, monitoring the “missing” UP electorate could be crucial to the outcome to this poll. The success of the commission as regards the UP polls goes much beyond keeping the bogus voter away while ensuring that the genuine voter exercises his franchise without fear. For the first time in the history of UP, elections passed off peacefully, without a single incident of poll-related violence or malpractice. In 2002, 96 repolls were ordered, of which only 16 were on account of EVM failure and the rest due to electoral malpractice like rigging and impersonation, etc. In 2007, though 51 repolls were ordered, 45 were on account or a procedural lapse due to mismatch between the master electoral rolls and copies of rolls maintained by the polling station.
Of the remaining 6, 3 were due to failure of the presiding officer to operate the EVMs, 2 on account of EVM malfunction and 1 due to some mischief on part of the presiding officer against whom action was subsequently taken. Another successful experiment conducted by the EC in this assembly election in UP was “vulnerability mapping,” or prior identification of areas with a high possibility of intimidation of voters or poll violence.
The observers meticulously mapped these areas, which were then put on the watchlist and preventive measures, such as concentration of central forces, taken. The result, as goes the feedback the commission received from the observers, was that an unusually high number of voters, some decades beyond their voting age, cast their votes for the first time.
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