Varanasi: turnout jumps from 43% to 55%

VARANASI: Apart from increased awareness among voters and the Narendra Modi wave, polarization played an important role in ensuring that a large number of Banarasis came out to vote on Monday. The voter turnout was 55.35% - a big jump from the about 43% polling seen in the 2009 LS polls.

Sources said Muslims voters were divided in choosing between Congress and AAP. "Muslims looked divided between the two parties primarily because even they were unsure as to who would be able to defeat Modi, the BJP's candidate," said political analyst Prof KK Misra, head of political science department at Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

There seemed to be a change in the voting pattern of Hindus too. In the last elections, people voted along caste lines. But this time, all caste barriers were broken and Hindu voters were united at most polling stations, said Shalesh Kumar, a research scholar at BHU.

AAP's chances were said to have taken a hit at the last moment. "AAP's show in the city was only before the campaigning came to an end," said Gopal Sahani, a tea-seller at Dasashwamedh Ghat. "Most AAP volunteers who were visible on the roads were outsiders and once they left, before the deadline of 5pm on May 10, AAP's Arvind Kejriwal was left with only some booth-level workers."

But Prof Bechen Lal of BHU's zoology department gave AAP an edge over the Congress. He said expressed happiness the university, which used to record barely 20%-30% voting, broke all records to register over 50% turnout.