New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) The Election Fee on Friday mentioned it has recognized 266 parliamentary constituencies, together with 215 in rural areas, with low voter turnout and is planning focused intervention to boost voting proportion within the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Municipal commissioners from main cities and choose district election officers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh mentioned enhancing voter engagement and participation in recognized city and rural Lok Sabha seats.
At its convention on low voter turnout right here, the EC mentioned 266 parliamentary constituencies — 215 rural and 51 city — with low voter turnout have been recognized.
Eleven states and Union territories – Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand – had a voter turnout decrease than the nationwide common of 67.40 per cent within the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing the members, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar confused that ‘one dimension suits all’ strategy is not going to work and completely different methods need to be labored out for various areas and segments.
Polling for the seven-phased Lok Sabha polls begins on April 19.
Kumar emphasised on a three-pronged technique of offering facilitation at polling stations, reminiscent of queue administration, sheltered parking in congested areas; focused outreach and communication; and involvement of crucial stakeholders together with RWAs, native icons and youth influencers to influence individuals to come back to polling stations on voting day.
He instructed officers to organize a booth-wise motion plan for enhanced participation and behavior change.
He requested the members to organize completely different methods for city and rural areas and plan interventions accordingly for various goal audiences.
Discussions had been centred on crucial points reminiscent of optimising queue administration at polling stations and facilitating voting in high-rise buildings.
City particular hurdles to elevated voter turnout had been recognized and focused city-specific interventions had been deliberate. The officers had been inspired to develop tailor-made, region-specific outreach packages that resonate with the distinctive wants and demographics of their constituencies.
The Fee recalled that just about 29.7 crore eligible voters didn’t vote within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections “underscoring the size of the issue which requires proactive measures”.
Within the final Lok Sabha elections, of the 50 seats with the bottom voter turnout, 17 had been in metropolitans or main cities.
It mentioned current elections throughout numerous states have highlighted developments of city apathy in direction of the electoral course of, warranting focused interventions and collaborative endeavours.