Voters’ lack of interest in participating in the first phase of the 18th Lok Sabha’s 102 seats has disappointed. The declining voting proportion rather than the rising one is unquestionably not encouraging for democracy in any manner, especially after seven and a half decades of independence. The low voting percentage surely makes one stop and consider, even with the Election Commission’s best efforts. It is evident from our analysis of the Election Commission’s data for the first voting phase that the voting percentage decreased by two percent from 2019. Even if the percentage of voters in Sikkim and Tripura has reached 80%, it is still lower than in 2019.
Tripura recorded 81.5 percent voting compared to 81.9 percent in 2019 and Sikkim recorded 80 percent voting compared to 84.8 percent in 2019. The lowest percentage of voting in the first phase of elections has been in Bihar where the voting figure has not even touched 50 percent. In Chhattisgarh, the turnout was definitely a little more than one percent compared to 2019. As far as Rajasthan is concerned, there has been a decline of 6 percent in the voting percentage in 12 seats. Voting percentage on all seats was less than 2019. Although the figures released by the Election Commission are based on preliminary information, there is no possibility of any significant change in them. The interesting thing is that in the first phase, out of 543 Lok Sabha seats, a little less than 20 per cent voting has taken place on 102 seats. If the voters’ attitude remains the same in the next four phases of voting, then it becomes a matter of concern for everyone including the Election Commission, political parties, democratic system, and citizens.
