Influencers, parking with shades, wheelchair access, happy hours at shopping malls – EC plan to bring voters to booths

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, among 11 states and Union territories, Gujarat witnessed a voter turnout of 64.5 per cent – lower than the national average of 67.4 per cent.

Further, taking the voter turnout data of 2022 Assembly elections into account, the CEO identified 3,489 polling stations, among the total 50,677 polling stations, which has witnessed less than 50 per cent turnout. Among these 3,489 polling stations, Surat has the maximum number at 498, followed by Ahmedabad with 468 polling stations.

Further, it was observed that in Surat, rural Assembly constituencies had witnessed a higher voter turnout than urban constituencies in 2022. A difference of 25 per cent was recorded when the lowest turnout at an urban Assembly constituency of Surat was compared with the highest turnout at a rural constituency.

Looking into such issues, special initiatives targeting specific sections of voters – from industries, resident welfare associations (RWA) and education campuses as well as anganwadi workers, teachers, social media influencers and radio jockeys – have been devised by the State Election Commission this time.

“Keeping the urban apathy in focus, this time, meetings with resident welfare associations have been planned in cities,” CEO P Bharathi told The Indian Express. Officials said that so far, in Ahmedabad alone, around 400 RWA meetings have been conducted.

To facilitate voters at polling stations, the poll panel has decided to focus on queue management, parkings with shades, targeted outreach and communication. It will also involve critical stakeholders like RWAs, local icons and youth influencers to persuade people to come to polling stations.

Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner M Thennarasan said, “There are plans to facilitate parking and provide facilities like wheelchair access and special vehicle arrangements to bring senior citizens to the polling stations. Also, there plans to rope in shopping malls to encourage people to vote by either offering them discounts or offers like happy hours.”

Thennarasan was part of the day-long conference chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar last week in Delhi to find out ways to reach out to voters.

Bharathi said, “Further, we have decided that the voter slip distribution process should be treated as an invitation and personally handed over to the voter and not to neighbours or others.”

On sector-specific awareness campaigns and arrangements, Ahmedabad District Development Officer Videh Khare said, “Every industry has a voter awareness forum to ensure its employees vote. Also, Sankalp Patras are being distributed by the booth level officer, urging voters to pledge to vote.”

In the 2022 Gujarat elections, Gandhidham Assembly constituency in Kutch – which has industrial establishments – recorded the lowest poll percentage of 48.14, a sharp decline of almost 6 per cent when compared to the last election in 2017.

Khare said, “In the last week of this month, a special campaign of ‘know your polling station’ will be organised to help voters. Also, a meeting with social media influencers from Ahmedabad is being planned to get them on board to motivate youngsters and first-time voters.”

Ahmedabad Deputy Municipal Commissioner C M Trivedi, in charge of the civic body’s ‘Turnout Implementation Plan’ initiative, said that a special team will be set up for a polling station with more than five booths that will only look after the parking issue.