Election Comission to launch campaign to check 'urban apathy'

The Election Commission of India (EC) is set to launch a targeted awareness campaign to check 'urban apathy' and motivate voters in cities and towns to cast their vote, after taking note of the low urban voter turnout in the recently concluded elections to state assemblies in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

The poll panel is also expected to launch a series of initiatives ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to ensure greater transparency and accessibility in the electoral system.

These include enabling better information for the voter on a political party's finances to its poll promises and candidate credentials to considering measures for facilitating voting for NRI voters and domestic migrants.


The reform measures are expected to take off soon after the Winter session of Parliament concludes on December 29.

In early 2023, it will begin with the new Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign to target urban voters. The EC is preparing to launch a new version of its SVEEP voter awareness campaign for the same, which will target young voters in educational institutions besides voters in corporate offices.

The central idea is to check the growing rural-urban divide across states in terms of voter turnout.

The EC recently launched a drive against urban apathy in Pune - a city which had recorded the lowest voter turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

It is estimated that between 290 to 300 million voters did not cast their vote in the 2019 polls.

The ECI is hoping to buck the trend over the several assembly elections lined up in 2023 followed by the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

The poll panel is aiming to ensure that each election records a better turnout and is conducted with full transparency and fairness, officials said.

EC officials pointed out how the recently conducted polls were a clear indicator of its commitment, since no repoll had to be ordered at any of the 59,273 polling stations in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh despite tight contests.

That so many constituencies saw thin margins of victory and yet no demand for repoll had come in, they pointed out, was proof of the EC machinery's robustness.

No allegations have been made this time on tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) either.

Five constituencies in Himachal Pradesh - which saw tightly contested polls - had victory margins of fewer than 500 votes.

In Bhoranj, BJP won with just 60 votes, while the Indian National Congress wrested Sri Naina Deviji constituency with a 171-vote margin.

Bilaspur, Shillai and Sujanpur were won by margins of less than 400 votes, according to EC data.

In Gujarat, BJP won Rapar with a 577-vote margin, while Somnath voted Congress to power with 922 votes.