Bengalureans are known for their sense of civic activism, willingly volunteering for signature campaigns or street protests to espouse causes ranging from deficient infrastructure to environmental issues.
Yet, when it comes to turning out on polling day to cast their votes, they are curiously apathetic.
The voter turnout in Bengaluru during the 2013 and 2018 assembly polls was 62 percent and 57 percent, respectively. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Bengaluru's turnout was 54.1 percent— even lower than the 56 percent recorded in 2014.
To be sure, there are reasons aside from urban apathy responsible for the low turnout – errors in the voters’ list, residents who may have moved to other parts of the city, the presence of a sizeable floating population, many of whom prefer to vote in their hometowns, the names of deceased voters not being removed from the electoral rolls, and so on.
Election Commission of India (ECI) records show Karnataka has 1.17 million first-time voters, including 61,602 in Bengaluru Urban. Millennials who have a 'one-vote-won't-make-any-difference' attitude also contribute to the low voter turnout.
In cities like Bengaluru, many residents live in high-rise apartment complexes, so providing voter slips to many of them is a challenge.
And, of course, there are also complaints of mass deletion of voters and missing names from voter lists.
“Faith in democracy and politicians has been receding over the years. Politicians are losing credibility due to massive corruption. EC may be doing awareness campaigns but it has failed to create an environment for free and fair elections,” said MG Devasahayam, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer and coordinator of the Citizens' Commission on Elections.
“There is a certain fatigue among voters due to corruption, freebies, money distribution, etc., especially among first-time voters. Politicians and EC should take note of it,” Devasahayam added.
Another possible reason for people’s lack of interest in turning out to vote is the practice of political parties to field many outgoing legislators in elections, irrespective of their performance.
For instance, 16 of the 28 assembly seats in Bengaluru, including Byatarayanapura, Sarvagnanagar, Shantinagar, Shivajinagar, Gandhinagar, Vijayanagar, BTM Layout, Yelahanka, Malleswaram, Rajajinagar, CV Raman Nagar, Basavanagudi, Padmanabhanagar, Mahadevapura, Bommanahalli, and Bengaluru South, have been electing the same MLA since 2008.
Election Commission records show Information Technology (IT) clusters like Bommanahalli, BTM Layout, KR Puram and CV Raman Nagar, coming under assembly constituencies, have usually recorded the lowest polling. Old areas including Jayanagar, Padmanabhanagar and Chickpet, have high polling percentages.
“Bengaluru has a significant migrant population, and some of them have a personal relationship with their MLAs contesting in their hometowns. In Bengaluru, most MLAs may not have a strong connection with voters. This time, the election is scheduled mid-week, so it may boost polling percentage,” said Pruthvin Reddy, a techie and infrastructure enthusiast.
Karnataka votes on May 10, a Wednesday. The state government declared a paid holiday for all employees on polling day, May 10.
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EC sets 65 percent polling target for Bengaluru
The Election Commission has been reaching out to Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) and tech parks in places like Outer Ring Road, Electronics City, industrial areas, garment factories and colleges to create awareness under its Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign.
It has set a polling percentage target of 65 percent for Bengaluru in this assembly election, but whether it will be met is anyone’s guess until after polling day.
Karnataka Special Officer (Elections) AV Surya Sen told Moneycontrol the hope is that the polling percentage will be higher this time.
"There are multiple reasons: One, the voting day on May 10 is a midweek day. Two, more awareness campaigns and citizen engagement. Three, voter helpline app made the process to shift their voting to a new address/register as a new voter easier," Sen said.
He admitted that there were also issues with electoral rolls. "Earlier, there were difficulties for Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to enter big apartment complexes and verify the voters. Even if they manage to get access, residents may not be available during day time, so we roped in RWAs to enroll fresh voters and also delete those who are not staying in a particular area. For instance, a person who was staying in Shivaji Nagar and shifted to Padmanabhanagar will have the vote in their new place of residence. In fact, our BLOs made field visits to cleanse the electoral rolls to an extent."
He said the expectation was for a polling percentage of 75 percent in Karnataka and 65 percent-70 percent in Bengaluru. "Voters should also check their names are present in the electoral rolls in advance so we could reduce the complaints of missing names on the voting day," said Sen.
The Election Commission has been conducting walkathons, street plays, awareness campaigns on buses, Metro, theatres and even used garbage collection vehicles to create awareness of the importance of voting.
The Commission also held a 30-hour offline hackathon to tackle voter apathy. It roped in premier educational institutions in efforts to increase the polling percentage, and also facilitated a 'vote from home' initiative for 1.21 million people aged 80 and above and for 550,000 differently-abled persons across the state.
While announcing the polling date for Karnataka polls on March 29, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said voting had been scheduled mid-week to increase the participation of voters.
"We have kept the polling day on Wednesday because we have observed in recent years that people take leave on Monday/Friday if polls are held close to weekends and head out of the city, instead of voting. If polling day is falling on a Wednesday, it will make it difficult for people to take two days’ leave," he said.
Citizen groups doing their bit
Many citizen groups in the city are also doing their bit to create awareness. Vikram Rai, Secretary of the Bangalore Apartments' Federation (BAF), said BAF had been running a campaign called ‘Every Vote Matters’ to create awareness among the residents.
“We have conducted more than 10 camps and enrolled 800-1,000 fresh voters. It’s now easier to register through EC’s portal/website, so many others opted for that option. Earlier, elections were held close to the weekend, so many tended to go to nearby weekend getaway places." BAF has more than 1,200 RWAs as members.
Anjali Saini of Whitefield Rising, a volunteers’ community, said it was creating ‘Million Voter Rising’ awareness campaign.
“Some are not happy with the candidates or frustrated/angry over the system due to corruption. Also, political parties too have fielded the same candidates for the past several years. Many fence-sitters think their one vote won’t make any difference. But in most constituencies, the result margin is very so slim so every vote actually counts. If people continue to skip voting, then politicians will also ignore their demands for better facilities/infrastructure. In fact, a low voting percentage will only prompt politicians to ignore us” she said.
Revathy Ashok of Bangalore Political Action Committee, a non-governmental organization (NGO), said the panel was conducting a ‘My Vote Not for Sale’ awareness campaign across the city.
“Electoral rolls in Bengaluru could be inflated due to duplicate entries, but there is also urban apathy since they are disconnected from MLAs. But some of the MLAs are approachable if we engage with them for initiatives like lake restoration drives,” she said.
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