Poor turnout mars polls in Chhotaudepur

The indifference was all the more clear during the first four hours of voting with a mere five percent of voters turning up at the polling stations till 11 am.

At Bodeli, a little less than five per cent of people turned up at the two polling booths till 11 am. The same story was repeated in Sankheda, Naswadi, Suskal, Tejgadh, Puniyavant, Chhotaudepur and Dabhoi. But in Jambugam of Dabhoi taluka not even a single women voter, out of the 248 registered ones, turned up to cast votes in the first four hours.

In Chhotaudepur taluka, out of the total registered 1.69 lakhs registered voters only 12,225 had cast their votes till 1 pm. In the Congress bastion of Pavijetpur, more than 25 per cent of the voters turned up till 11 am much to the glee of the Congress workers. In Dabhoi taluka, till 3 pm, only 27.89 per cent electorates turned up, but increased gradually in the later hours.

“This is what is going to happen when elections take place so frequently. Besides, what is more important is my day’s earnings and not casting vote,” said Jaisingbhai of Aladpur, a contract labourer, while commenting on the poor turnout.

The poor turnout also reflected that neither Sonia nor Kargil had translated rhetoric into votes. In some villages people were not even aware of Kargil. “What is it?” asked Sukhabhai of Pavijetpur. Some had heard of `Indo-Pak clash’ but were not sure where it had taken place. Even Congress campaign’s slogan `Sonia Gandhi ayegi ek lehar layegi’ (Sonia will bring a change) failed to evoke a strong response.

In Pavijetpur, people were more worried about the poor rainfall and losses to the crops than who was going to win. “We are more worried about the poor rainfall this time,” said Farooqbhai, while claiming that the indifference was because of the frequent polls.

But, claimed villagers, in Chhotaudepur taluka the poor turnout was because people had moved out in search of employment. “They were the ones who used to vote with enthusiasm. But because of the draught-like situation this time they have been forced to move out for work,” said one Dahyabhai of Tejgadh. Even the candidates and their workers made little efforts to improve the turnout. Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, Ramsinh Rathwa though hopeful that the voters would flow in in the last two hours made little attempts to persuade the voters to come out.

In Pavijetpur, local Congress leader Shantilal cited a young woman’s death in an accident as a reason for the party workers not aggressively asking people to vote.