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Journalism of Courage
Coming after a hotly contested election that reverberated with a clamour for change, the lower voter turnout in Punjab—at 72 percent, it is almost 5 per cent lower than the 2017 assembly polls figure of 77.63 per cent—is confounding pollsters as they try to figure out the polling trends and their implications for the results.
It was a high-stakes election not just for the state in search of development, but also for the contenders in the fray. For incumbent Congress, it was a fight to stay relevant nationally amidst its waning political fortunes; for the centenarian Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), it was a battle for revival after its worst-ever performance at the hustings last time; for BJP, it was a rare opportunity to emerge from the cocoon of its former ally and flap its wings; and for AAP, it seemed like one giant step towards its national ambitions. But the comparatively lower turnout has put a spanner in the political calculations.
Why did a large number of people—6 per cent would mean around 12 lakh voters—not turn out to vote?
Widespread disillusionment with politicians and parties alike is one reason given by political observers. “There is a general disillusionment among the ordinary voter with the contesting parties. Populist promises too have lost their seductive value. So they didn’t feel the need to take part in the political process,” says Prof Ashutosh Kumar, a political scientist at Panjab University.
The low numbers also imply absence of any wave for a particular party. But Malwa, the cradle of AAP in Punjab where they got 18 of their 20 seats in 2017, saw a significantly higher turnout—Sardulgarh in Mansa touched a high of 83.45 pc—as compared to Majha and Doaba. It’s also being pointed out that despite the pull factor of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, the state did not have any towering figure who could mobilise people to step out and vote.
Farm unions, fresh after a successful agitation on the Delhi borders, were also lukewarm about the elections. Two days before the polling, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of BKU (Ugrahan), the largest farmer union of the state, addressed a mammoth ‘public welfare’ rally of around 60,000-odd people at Barnala where he declared that not polls, only struggle could solve the farmers’ problems. A police officer claimed many in the gathering had urged people to exercise NOTA to show their displeasure with their respective local candidate, which may have been taken as a signal to abstain from voting.
Experts are also citing population dynamics and migration as one of the reasons for the low turnout, especially in urban seats such as Ludhiana, Amritsar and Mohali, which witnessed much lower numbers than their rural counterparts with Mohali recording the lowest turnout at a little over 53 per cent.
JS Sekhon, a political observer at Amritsar, says the last five years have seen an accelerated flight of young students and professionals to other cities and countries. Prof Lakhwinder Singh of Punjabi University, Patiala, also underlines this factor. “Even in my family, the number of voters has been reduced from three to two.”
Covid curbs that advised the elderly to avoid crowded places and the plethora of weddings on Sunday may have also played a role in keeping some people away from the polling booths.
The political parties, however, claim they are happy with the turnout, and not much should be read into it. Be it AAP, Congress, Akali Dal or BJP, they have all thanked voters for turning up in large numbers to vote for them.
All those eager to know how the low turnout will reflect on results, will have to wait till March 10.
