Time for EC to think of night polls

NEW DELHI: Heat seems to be having a dampening effect on voter enthusiasm in most places, with the average polling percentage sliding to just 49-50% in the third phase on Thursday as compared to the 58-62% turnout in the first phase and 55% in the second round.

Blazing sun appeared to have played a spoiler in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Gujarat which clocked polling in the low range of 43-50%. While nearly 55-57% of the electorate decided to stay indoors to escape the scorching heat in Maharashtra and UP, MP too did not see much turnout with only 45% making it to the polling booths.
Bihar, where polling was low even in the first two phases, maintained the trend with just 48% turnout. Polling in Gujarat, also reeling under a heat wave, was on the wrong side of 50%.

But there are states where voters braved the weather���s fury to keep their date with democracy. West Bengal, which has a history of high turnouts, saw an impressive 64-65% polling percentage, which is expected to go up further as the final reports from the polling stations come in. Interestingly, the high turnout came even as a poll boycott was reported from as many as 93 polling stations, most of them Naxal-hit.

The other state where the mercury did not get better of voter enthusiasm was Karnataka, averaging a 57% turnout on Thursday. The Union territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli too did well with a 60% voter turnout.

In Mumbai in particular, notwithstanding the much-publicised appeals from filmstars asking voters to have their fingers inked, only 44-45% of the electorate actually turned up at the polling stations.

Of course, the EC is not too worried over the effect of the summer on the turnout. Deputy election commissioner R Balakrishnan maintained that the average turnout in 2004 in the places that went to polls in the third phase was more or less the same. ���That the polls would be held in April-May was known to everyone...the low turnout due to extreme summer in these months is something beyond our control,��� he told newspersons here while briefing them on the third phase of polling.