The fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections will be held in six constituencies of Mumbai, including 17 seats of Maharashtra. As its vacation time, will Mumbaikars maintain their 2014 record of highest voter turnout?
According to the Indian Express, in 2014 Mumbai recorded the highest voter turnout in three decades when 51.59 percent of the total electorate came out to vote. The election records state that the voting percentage in 2014 was the highest since 1989 Lok Sabha polls when the turnout was 55 percent. Since then, the voting percentage crossed 50 percent only once — 50.36 percent in 1998.
But there are concerns that with the May 1 holiday following so soon after voting day, many residents might have taken a leave day on Tuesday too and gone out of the city for an extended weekend. And for the very reason state administration has been running campaigns to push voters to vote in large numbers. The election commission officials have also asked deputy registrars to send out a pledge to housing societies to encourage voting of residents who stay there. Mumbai Suburbs Deputy Collector Sonali Muley told the Indian Express, “apart from advertisements in newspapers and TV channels, this time, the Election Commission is going out of its way to encourage people to vote. In airports, 250 flight information display systems have been used to put across a message: Vacations come every year, but elections come once in five years.”
“Since it is a long weekend we knew people would want to go for a holiday. We have targeted voters in residential societies who use air travel. In multiple airlines, inflight announcements were made to ask them to use their franchise and vote,” Mulay told the leading daily.
