2024 LS election: EC’s ‘Iss Vaar 70 Paar’ drive to increase turnout in Punjab
Punjab, which saw a tepid response with 65.9% turnout in the 2019 parliamentary elections, has drawn an elaborate voter turnout implementation plan to tackle elector apathy through interventions focused on constituencies with low female voter turnout, migrant inhabitants and urban pockets.
‘Iss Vaar Sattar Paar’ – no, this is not a mantra being chanted by a political party looking to improve its seats tally in the election. But the slogan coined by the poll authorities in Punjab to increase the voter turnout in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The border state, which saw a tepid response with 65.9% turnout in the 2019 parliamentary elections, has drawn an elaborate voter turnout implementation plan to tackle elector apathy through interventions focused on constituencies with low female voter turnout, migrant inhabitants and urban pockets. The voter participation in Punjab was lower than the national average of 67.4% in the last Lok Sabha polls. The Election Commission of India (EC) had recently asked the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of 10 states, including Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Telangana and Maharashtra, with turnout below or marginally higher than the national average to identify the reasons for low polling and make targeted communication efforts to bring more voters to the polling booths in the upcoming elections. The state has 13 Lok Sabha seats.
Punjab CEO Sibin C said that analysis of findings from ‘Knowledge, Attitude and Practices’ (KAP) surveys during various elections has shown that the voting percentage in Punjab is high during assembly elections (normally above 70%) and low in LS elections (normally below 65%). “The reason could be attributed to the intensity of the fight during elections which is normally high in local elections. Another reason is timing as assembly polls are normally held during winter (January-February) when agricultural activities are less whereas LS elections normally fall during the summer period (Apil-May) when harvesting activities are at peak. Then, there is an increasing outflux of youth from the state to foreign countries for education and job which contributed to youth apathy in voter registration and electoral participation,” he said. A baseline survey was also done by the department of political science, Guru Nanak Dev University, in two assembly segments each from 13 Lok Sabha constituencies from August 16 to September 15.
The poll authorities, who conducted a gap analysis of 2019 poll data of 117 assembly segments in the state, have identified 67 constituencies where female voter turnout was below national average and decided to appoint ‘mahila preraks’ (women motivator) there after verifying their political neutrality and engage campus ambassadors and involve Anganwadi and ASHA workers to motivate women to vote. In five assembly segments of Jalandhar Cantonment, Jalandhar Central, Amritsar West, SAS Nagar and Patiala Urban where low participation reflected urban apathy, voters who have not voted in previous two-three elections will be identified and sensitised and RWAs leveraged to create voter awareness, according to the turnout implementation plan approved by the EC. Special camps have been planned in collaboration with the labour department in industrial clusters such as Ludhiana East, Ludhiana Central and Jalandhar North having high migrant population for voter registration and creating awareness about electoral process.
The Punjab CEO’s office has also decided to set up ‘Chon Sathh’ at booth level to sensitise the citizens about informed and ethical voting and appoint young volunteers as ‘Chon Mitar’ (Friends of Democracy). Each ‘Chon Mitar’, according to the plan, will be attached with 20 households to ensure the enrollment of all eligible citizens and motivate them to cast their votes to achieve a higher voter turnout this time. “The poll authorities did a 360-degree profiling of booths where turnout was less. The impact of the turnout implementation plan will depend on how well it is implemented on the ground,” a senior official said. In 2019, of the 23 districts in the state, 12 saw less voter turnout than the national average. Amritsar district had the lowest voter participation with just 57.8% turnout whereas the highest voting percentage of 76.6 was in Mansa district.