Rajasthan: EC praised as all parties see high polling going their way

By: ​Akshay Deshmane

JAIPUR: The record voter turnout for the Rajasthan assembly polls has puzzled political pundits, and has triggered a range of assumptions. Congress credited voter enthusiasm to ‘good governance’ of the Ashok Gehlot government while BJP attributed it to the Narendra Modi factor and people’s determination to vote out Gehlot.

As of now, the only point everyone agrees though is on the positive role played by the Election Commission in creating an conducive atmosphere for a 75.20% turnout on Sunday that breached the earlier record of 67.18% recorded in 2003 polls.

“Not only was the contribution of young and new voters crucial in raising the voting percentage, sections that could not traditionally vote came out to vote this time,” Chief Electoral Officer Anil Jain said. This was seconded by PL Mimroh, chairperson of the Centre for Dalit Rights (CDR) in Jaipur. “In 2008, we had at least 140 complaints received from a much smaller number of districts. This year, our network of volunteers was active in all 33 districts and there were about 100 complaints,” Mimroh said.

EC’s special emphasis on women, youth and new voters also appears to have paid off with women registering a higher voting percentage than men for the first time in history.

“The rise in voting percentage of women was 10.13%, and 7.62% for men, this year, as compared to the last assembly polls. Also, the 19 lakh new voters also appear to have contributed in large numbers,” said Dinesh Mathur, media advisor to the EC.

While acknowledging the efforts of the EC, the two principal political parties said there were key political factors also which were responsible for the historic turn out. Rajasthan Congress VP Rajiv Arora said, “good governance provided by the Gehlot government in the past five years has created a positive feeling among voters about the party and that prompted the historic turn out, as they wanted to back a government which has benefited them.”

State BJP vice-president Omkar Singh Lakhawat alleged it was a collective anger against corruption, misgovernance and widespread support for Modi which prompted the higher turnout.