- Monday, June 17, 2024
The officials made the appeal for the sixth phase of national election on May 25 after low voter turnout was recorded in cities such as Bengaluru and Mumbai.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Election Commission of India has urged voters in India’s urban centres such as Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad to break the trend of urban apathy by turning out in large numbers to vote in the sixth and penultimate phase of the ongoing elections on Saturday (25).
At the end of voting in the fifth phase of election on May 20, the poll panel had lamented that constituencies in various cities such as Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Lucknow have continued the trend of “urban apathy” as noticed in the 2019 polls.
Even the turnout in Bengaluru, India’s information technology hub, in the April 26 election was reported to be low.
In a statement made on the eve of the election about the preparation for the sixth phase of elections, the poll authority said voters in urban centres such as Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad (in the state of Haryana) are specially reminded about their right and duty and “break the trend of urban apathy”.
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Earlier this week too, the commission had pointed out that Mumbai, Thane and Lucknow have shown apathy towards voting in the past and asked people living in these cities to turn out in high numbers.
The poll authority had noted that in the past, these cities have “suffered” from urban apathy as far as voting is concerned.
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On May 3 too, while referring to voter turnout in phase two, the commission had said it was “disappointed” with the turnout level in some metropolitan cities.
The commission had last month assembled many metro commissioners in New Delhi to work out a strategy to fight the apathy.
Urban and youth apathy is described as a phenomenon when young voters and those living in metros fail to turn up at polling stations on the election day.
(With PTI inputs)
