The Hindu : Front Page : Voter apathy marks local body elections

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 27, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

Voter apathy marks local body elections

C. Gouridasan Nair

Campaign stressed little on local-level development

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The two significant aspects of the local body election, polling for which concluded on Monday, appear to be voter apathy and confusions arising from the anomalies in the preparation of voters' list.

Voter apathy has been striking in urban areas, particularly in the southern parts of the State. Even if the overall figure is taken, polling is likely to be lower by four or five percentage points from that in 2000 when 66.5 per cent of the voters cast their votes. The polling percentage in the first phase this time came to only 59.94 per cent, and in the second phase, according to preliminary estimates, it is only a shade better at 61.75 per cent.

One reason being cited by many for the fall in polling percentage is widespread apathy among voters, possibly the result of a campaign that stressed little on local-level development and more on political issues having no connection with the problems at the grassroots. With the Left Democratic Front, led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), deciding to go in for local-level tie-ups with the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran), the whole political debate got entangled in Emergency, and there was very little discussion on which way the State's efforts at democratic decentralisation should be taken. The coming together of political antagonists also might have left the voters cold.

The reported anomalies in the delimitation of wards and preparation of voters' list also appear to have played a major part in pouring cold water over voter enthusiasm. There have been reports of candidates themselves not being able to cast their votes and several persons having to return without voting as their names figured in lists pertaining to far-off booths. In urban areas, the voters appear to have chosen not to go through the ordeal of checking their names in several lists in several booths so that they could exercise their franchise. Only the diehard voters were prepared to go from booth to booth, based on helpful tips provided by political party workers and booth agents, to cast their votes.

The confusion over distribution of postal ballots to State employees deployed on poll duty has only confounded the situation, if one were to go by reports of skirmishes pouring in from various district headquarters.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News Update

Stories in this Section