Saturday, 27 Jul, 2024
By: Team CVoter
Wikimedia Commons
Shift in voter turnout has varied across states with some states having seen no change at all whereas others recording a drop of nearly 20% when compared to 2019.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, on one side the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) iz vying for a third consecutive term in power and on the other a unique opposition alliance with parties such as the Indian National Congress (INC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) are fighting to keep the BJP out. The elections are scheduled in phases across the states with two phases of polling done with the third scheduled for May 7th, 2024. The voter turnout has varied across states.
A comparison of voter turnouts in the first two phases of the ongoing elections vis a vis the 2019 would not be fair given the seat composition that went to polls differs. Data from the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the two phases of the current elections unveiled that Lakshadweep recorded the highest voter turnout at 84.2% compared to Nawada in Bihar, which recorded the lowest turnout at 43.2%. West Bengal led the bugger states with 81.9% polling for three seats, followed by Tamil Nadu at 81.5%. In terms of change in voter turnout compared to 2019, Anadaman and Nicobar recorded no change at all, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, West Bengal and Puducherry that witnessed a decline of anywhere between -5 to -1 percentage points. Nagaland saw the largest drop in polling percentage above 20%.
In the ongoing elections, Bihar registered the lowest turnout at 49.3% (five seats) amidst the 13 states and union territories that saw voting. Interestingly, seven out of the 102 seats in the first phase witnessed voting above 80% whereas three seats saw voting less than 50%.
