The Assembly constituencies in Telangana’s capital Hyderabad have been historically known for their low voter turnout. With the polling for the single-phase Telangana elections scheduled for a Thursday (November 30), the Election Commission (EC) seems to be again worried about the possibility of low voting in these seats. On November 15, the state government announced a paid holiday on November 30 for all employees and workers across the state to enable them to go out and cast their votes. However, past trends indicate that the urban voters may prefer a long weekend over exercising their right to vote. Most of Greater Hyderabad's 24 urban constituencies have been recording a voter turnout between just 40% and 55% over the last three Assembly elections. In 2018, Telangana went to polls on December 7, a Friday, which was similarly declared as a paid holiday for employees and workers by the government. A look at data available from the 2009, 2014 and 2018 Assembly polls shows that the voter turnout has been declining in most of the Assembly segments in Greater Hyderabad, which includes 15 seats of Hyderabad district besides nine other urban seats of two adjoining districts. In the Greater Hyderabad region, the Assembly seat with the most electors in Serilingampally while the seat with the least number of voters in Charminar. As compared to the 2009 polls, 17 of the region’s 24 seats saw a fall in vote percentage in the 2018 polls. When compared to the 2014 polls, 13 of these seats recorded a dip in turnout in 2018. The state recorded overall voter turnouts of 72.72%, 74.2%, and 73.74% in 2009, 2014 and 2018, respectively. Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj appealed to voters, especially in Hyderabad, to come out on November 30 and vote in large numbers. “It is a duty cast upon us by our Constitution and all of us should participate in that. We should participate in this in the spirit of a festival, the festival of democracy,” he said. Highlighting the problem of low vote percentage, state minister K T Rama Rao or KTR, who is the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and son of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR, pointed out at a recent meeting that while polling percentages in rural constituencies do not fall below 80%, urban constituencies in Hyderabad do not record a turnout of above 50%. “The concern is about Hyderabad voters only. The educated and vocal people who go to social media to raise their problems and do not turn up to vote. On polling day, they go to the movies or elsewhere but cannot stand in line for an hour to vote. In Hyderabad too, it is people living in slums who come out to vote and not the ones living in colonies and apartments,” KTR said, appealing to voters to exercise their franchise for whichever party they liked and choose whichever leader they wanted. “Such running commentary on social media won’t help if you really believe in democracy. Let us take it as a challenge to improve voter turnout in Hyderabad,” he added. On the reasons behind low turnouts in Hyderabad, an EC official said urban voters think of the polling day as a holiday and look to combine it with a weekend for a long vacation. “Secondly, many people do not like to go and stand in a queue. Third, they feel parking space near polling stations is inadequate. Most importantly, the urge to vote is lacking,” he said. The official also said that voters in rural areas have huge expectations from the leaders or governments they vote to power whereas urban voters “tend to take everything for granted”. “For instance, if the condition of roads or the law and order situation is good in the city, it is taken for granted by urban voters and they complain only when it is bad. The urge to demand from the government is not much in urban areas and hence they do not participate in the election process,” he claimed. Noting that a relatively lower voter turnout in urban areas is a phenomenon seen across the country, political analyst and Osmania University professor K Nageswar pointed to the “apolitical” nature of urban voters compared to rural voters, who share an emotional and physical proximity to their local political leaders besides a transactional relationship with them. He also cited a “sense of entitlement” among urban voters and a “lack of social or moral pressure” among them to vote. To improve the polling percentage, Nageswar said, the electoral lists should also be regularly updated. “Often deaths or relocation of voters is not reflected on the electoral list. The actual number of real voters may be lesser than that mentioned in the list,” he said. There are many practical means to improve voter turnout such as arranging free transport for voters, opening mobile polling stations, arranging polling stations in large gated communities, enlisting scouts and guides as volunteers to encourage voters, and the use of technology. “Technology allows you to let a voter vote from anywhere but a credible infrastructure is required. That creativity is lacking. And political parties suspect the integrity of the Election Commission,” Nageswar added.
