Modi’s roadshows impress Bengaluru, but voter turnout still stuck at 56%

While the 56% voting was a 3% jump from 2018, it was around 1% less than 2013, before Modi became the prime factor in BJP campaigns.

The voting percentage was also the same as the constituencies in Bengaluru which the roadshows did not cover. The overall turnout in Bengaluru district was 54%.

The Election Commission had conducted extensive SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) programmes in the IT capital, and officials said they were expecting a voter turnout of at least 70%. But even that appears to have made little difference.

In fact, Bommanahalli and CV Raman Nagar constituencies, covered by Modi’s roadshows on both May 6 and May 7, recorded the lowest turnouts in the state – of 47% and 49%, respectively.

Both the seats have been won by the BJP in the past three elections – with Satish Reddy the MLA from Bommanahalli and S Raghu from CV Raman Nagar.

Apart from these two, Modi’s roadshows crossed Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Mahalakshmi Layout, Yeshwanthpur, Dasarahalli, Bangalore South, BTM Layout, Jayanagar, Basavanagudi, Padmanabanagar, Chickpet, Chamarajpet, Gandhinagar, Rajajinagar, Vijaynagar, Govindaraj Nagar, Malleswaram, Mahadevapura, K R Puram, Shanitnagar and Shivaji Nagar constituencies.

Out of these total 22 constituencies, 11 were won by the BJP in 2018, 7 by the Congress and 1 by the JD(S). After the 2019 defections from the Congress and JD(S), the BJP tally in these 22 seats had gone up to 15.

Some exit polls released on Wednesday have predicted that the BJP may not do as well as 2018 in these 22 seats.

Mallikarjun C K, a voter in the Govindaraj Nagar constituency, said, “As a citizen I might be happy seeing the Prime Minister at my doorstep, but that does not mean I might side with the BJP. To me, the local MLA and his work matters when I go to the polling booth.”

However, Mallikarjun added, the roadshows might have laid the ground for the BJP for next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

A senior BJP politician on condition of anonymity said they were not worried about the exit poll predictions. “Of the constituencies covered by Modi roadshows, we are facing an uphill task in Rajaji Nagar and Basavangudi because of various reasons, and to some extent, in Govindaraj Nagar. Besides these, I don’t think we will have much of a problem in other seats.”

According to him, the low voter turnout was a combination of several factors, such as non-updation of voter lists. “In Bengaluru, we should consider 60% turnout as 100%. Because the rest 40% are either floating population or who have passed away.”

Turnout in four regions of Bengaluru district

An election official speaking to The Indian Express agreed with this, saying: “The main reasons (for the low turnout) were that the voting lists were not updated, by removing names of the floating population and those of the deceased. When officials went door-to-door for survey purification, nobody was ready to give information.” According to the official, this might also be because many settlers from other states are afraid of government benefits they enjoy being taken away in case of any discrepancy.

A BJP leader in the campaign team of the party also said the exit polls were wrong. “The roadshows helped us create a wave. They defeated the anti-incumbency which was looming large… We are set to gain at least three (more) seats because of the Modi wave, while the rest would remain our strongholds.”

In the run-up to Modi’s roadshows, concerns had been expressed over disruption in normal life in the city, which is notorious for its traffic mess, with traffic diverted and several bus services halted. This had led the BJP to split the plan for a single-day roadshow that would have lasted all of May 7 over two days.

Still, officials admitted there were concerns as the roadshows coincided with two big competitive examination days – for a chartered accountant entrance and NEET. However, the roadshows passed without any incident.