“Second Phase Of Lok Sabha Polls: Voter Turnout Falls To 54.85%, High Concern In Uttar Pradesh

Despite a media blitzkrieg by the Election Commission the low voter turnout has become a big talking point in the ongoing multiphase 2024 Lok Sabha elections with the political pundits splitting the semantic hair as to which party is going to gain and which party will lose from this phenomenon.

As per the data released by the Election Commission the second phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh on which voting was conducted in eight parliamentary constituencies the voter turnout was 54.85% which was 7% less than the 62% voting witnessed for the same seats in 2019.

Mathura saw a massive 12% drop from 61.03% in 2019 elections and the voter turnout was 49.29%. Voter turnout was 49.65% representing a drop of % from 55.83% in 2019. Amroha recorded a voter turnout of 64.02% polling, 58.70% in Meerut, 56.62% in Aligarh, 55.97% in Baghpat, 55.79% in Bulandshahr and 53 % in Gautam Buddh Nagar. The first phase of the polling in UP which happened on April 19 saw a voter turnout of 60.25%, as compared to 66.50% voting recorded in 2019.

The low voter turnout has pulled out the political parties from their stupor and booth level workers have been mobilized to get maximum votes polled at the respective booths. The EC has also directed all the electoral returning officers to motivate voters to exercise their franchise. However it seems the voters are not very keen to exercise their franchise rights.

There are many reasons for this lack of empathy among the voters which include the absence of emotive issues among the voters, harvest season in the rural areas, increasing temperatures and also disenchantment among grass roots party workers who are the driving force who motivate the voters to come out and vote in large numbers.

However the low voter turnout has started a slug fest between the political parties with each claiming that it is winning in the elections. The Uttar Pradesh Jal Shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh and minister of state for cooperation JPS Rathore have proclaimed that voting trends are in favor of BJP.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in a post on X, talked about the strange trend but also declared that the voter has voted for the INDIA bloc in large numbers and the votes for BJP has steadily gone down. Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Avinash Pande said the voters are excited and it is a vote for a change and the INDIA candidates are winning by a big margin. Rashtriya Lok Dal, a component of NDA  chief Jayant Chaudhary, said that the alliance will win 80 seats in UP.

Also Read: Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha Election Phase 2 : Key seats, candidates in the fray