Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Political parties are blaming wedding season, harvesting time and extreme heat responsible for low voter turnout in first phase of Lok Sabha election held on April 19. According to politicians, many weddings took place on April 18 and therefore large number of people did not turn up to vote the next day, which was April 19. “People who attended wedding on April 18 returned next day at 12 noon. After returning, they went to sleep.
The vote percentage was very less till 12 noon. Later, everyone including the district administration officials swung into the action and voting percentage increased to 50 %,” Sidhi BJP district incharge Rajesh Pandey told Free Press. Pandey cited other reasons too for low voter turnout in the report he sent to his party. Mahua is grown in Barambaba in Sidhi district. Tribals were busy plucking mahua.
Harvesting of other crops and extreme heat also resulted in less voting in Sidhi, Pandey told his party. Shahdol district BJP incharge Pitambar Topnani also gave similar explanation. “Extreme heat, peak of harvesting season and marriages became one of the major reasons for thin voting percentage,” he said.
Election Commission officials are surprised over the low voting percentage. A senior Election Commission official said that a collector of poll-bound district told him that hot weather played the spoil sport on the voting day. People visited booths till 11 am but later they avoided coming out to vote.
