Why was the voter turnout so low?

In spite of the beautiful campaigns thought up by both, the ruling, as well as the opposition and independent groups, their effects were not visible; their efforts did not result in a magical rush of first time voters to the polling booths. Why?

CJ: prabir ghose

Sat, May 02, 2009 10:28:40 IST

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Lok Sabha Elections News :

“THIS SHOULD not have happened,” is what everyone is thinking; not after the aggressive marketing of the concept of ‘vote to root out the good-for-nothing criminals’. The low voter turnout in the second phase of the General Elections 2009, is a matter of grave concern.

The youth was not influenced or charged up; not enough to deviate from their usual practice of just ignoring their so-called ‘duty’ for the cause of democracy. The younger generation did not come to the polling booths to exercise their franchise; the message of ‘jaago-re’ (wake up) fell on deaf ears, as it did not have the desired effect. So, what went wrong?

Some youngsters, who wanted to discard their inhibitions and proudly display the black mark on their index finger, said that the campaigns were targeted at the literate folks, and hence, the semi-literate and illiterate people lost out on the message. Another section said that they went to the polling booths but could not vote because their names were not in the final voters list. A third group was that of voters who came from different constituencies – having migrated to other places for the sake of employment – and therefore could not vote, because their names did not appear in the voters list of the place where they reside currently (due to employment).

All of these are problems that have to be attended to and necessary amendments need to be introduced. Also, an exercise should be carried out to find out the average age of people who voted and also what percentage of them were first-timers. That should not be difficult, and will give a clue as to what went wrong, and where.

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	Neither the EC nor political parties have voiced their concern on the low % nor suggested remedial measures since 1st pass the post suits them. Have proprtional representation and you will see all candidates &political parties getting serious on electoral rolls
	A Prabhakar \| 10 June 2009 Reply to Comment \| New Comment \| Report Abuse