Hyderabad: Four of the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana state are among the 50 seats with the lowest voter turnout, and steps need to be taken to encourage people to go out and vote, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has said.
Telangana state, with an overall voter turnout of 62.8 per cent voting in 2019, fell below the national average of 67.4 per cent, the ECI said.
According to the ECI, Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Malkajgiri and Chevella constituencies figured at the 4th, 7th, 12th, and 25th places in the list of 50 constituencies with the lowest voter turnout in the 2019 general elections.
In 2019, Hyderabad elected AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, Secunderabad the BJP’s G. Kishan Reddy. Malkajgiri the Congress’ A. Revanth Reddy and Chevella elected G. Ranjith Reddy, then with the BRS.
The ECI said Hyderabad registered a 44.84 per cent voter turnout, Secunderabad 46.5 per cent and Malkajgiri 49.63. It was only in Chevella that the voter turnout crossed the halfway mark at 53.25 per cent, in the 2023 Assembly elections, with the exception of Malkajgiri, voters in the Assembly segments in the other three constituencies together polled more votes than they did in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said in New Delhi on Friday that a polling booth-wise action plan was required to increase voter participation in the polling and increase the voting percentage in this year’s Lok Sabha elections. He was addressing a conference of municipal commissioners and district electoral officers from select districts from across the country on the need to encourage more people to go out and cast their votes.
Kumar said a one-size fits all approach will not yield results, and directed the officials that in addition to preparing booth wise action plans, different strategies should be evolved and implemented in urban and rural areas with interventions targeting different audiences.
