Election Commission winds up Bihar tour, voices concern over low turnout

Patna, Feb 21 (PTI) The Election Commission of India on Wednesday asserted that low voter turnout was a cause for concern in Bihar, known as the land that gave birth to democracy and still inhabited by politically aware citizens.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar made the averment at a press conference here, before concluding his three-day tour of the state for reviewing preparedness ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

"Bihar is known as the mother of democracy," said Kumar, in an apparent reference to the ancient republic of Vaishali.

Even though people of the state are known to be politically aware, the voter turnout here has been "poor", he said.

"In 2019, it was not just below the national average, but second lowest in the country. Only Jammu and Kashmir had registered a lower voting percentage," Kumar said.

The CEC said several steps were being taken to ensure improvement in turnout with a special focus on those segments where this was particularly low.

"We have noted that the voting percentage in 2019 was lower in the urban areas. The state has 16 assembly segments which are predominantly urban. In 12 of these, which is 75 per cent of the total, the turnout was lower than the state average of 57.33 per cent," the CEC disclosed.

In addition, the commission has identified 14 per cent polling booths with voter turnout of less than 47 per cent, which is more than 10 per cent lower than the state average, he said.

"In nine districts, 31 assembly segments have been marked out for a substantially lower turnout of female voters", Kumar said.

District electoral officers have been asked to ensure better turnout by making use of messaging, in local dialects, on platforms like FM radio channels and social media, he said.

The chief election commissioner also expressed hope that a significant rise in the number of young voters would lead to a substantial improvement in the overall turnout this time.

"As of now, Bihar has roughly 7.64 crore voters, of whom more than two crore are under the age of 30 years. While 9.26 lakh people are in the age group of 18-19 years and will be exercising their franchise for the first time, another 1.6 crore are aged between 20 and 29 years", he said.

The CEC also said that since 2019, the state has added 31.09 lakh female voters of whom 4.5 lakh are in the age group of 18-19 years. The overall electoral gender ratio has risen steadily since 2014, when it was 877, increased to 892 and now stands at 909.

Of the state's 243 assembly segments, the ratio in 117 was higher than the state average.

The overall strength of female voters was 3.64 crore while transgender voters were 2,290 in number.

There were 6.30 lakh people with disabilities while 14.50 lakh fell in the category of very senior citizens, 21,680 of them centenarians.

For the elderly and the disabled, arrangements like wheelchairs will be made at the polling booths.

"In the Bihar assembly polls of 2020, held in the midst of the COVID pandemic, we had for the first time offered the facility of sending polling officials to the homes of senior citizens with disabilities so that they could cast their votes there. This facility will continue", the chief election commissioner said. PTI