GHMC polls: People shy away from voting

Irrespective of GHMC or Assembly or Parliamentary elections, voters of Hyderabad are known to show a disinclination when it comes to exercising their franchise

Hyderabad: Despite spirited efforts to break the jinx of a low poll percentage in the State capital, Hyderabad continued to disappoint election pundits who expected a better turnout on Tuesday. A marked indifference to the voting process was witnessed in a majority of wards.

In the 2016 GHMC elections, a poll percentage of 45.29 was recorded, with Vijayanagar Colony recording the lowest poll percentage of 33.98 per cent and Erragadda division registering the highest of 59.19 percentage.

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Irrespective of municipal corporation or assembly or parliamentary elections, voters of Hyderabad are known to show a disinclination when it comes to exercising their franchise and this time was no exception. This was even after the State Election Commission roped in different celebrities, including film actors, directors, writers and others to create awareness among voters on the importance of voting, but the efforts appear to have failed in making the voters head to the polling booths.

Apart from the current circumstances, especially the Covid-19 pandemic, there were a few other factors also that are suspected have cast an impact on the voter turnout. Following Unlock guidelines, many families are performing marriages and other auspicious programmes that were put on hold since March early this year. Besides, many households are caught up in organising religious rituals and pujas related to Karthika Masam.

For many employees, though work from home is inevitable, it happened to be a long weekend. After Monday, Tuesday being a holiday in view of the GHMC elections, many had left for their hometowns on Friday itself.

More importantly, despite all precautions being taken by the SEC and GHMC at the polling stations, apprehensions were rife among many people over the pandemic. Considering the pandemic, the SEC, apart from ensuring safety precautions at polling booths, had decided to extend the option of postal ballot facility to differently-abled electors, those aged over 80 years and those who tested positive for Covid-19.

Generally, postal ballots are provided only to service personnel and their wives, persons who are under preventive detention and those who are on election duty.

Accordingly, 2,571 postal ballots were issued to employees while 260 were issued to differently-abled persons, above 80 years of age and Covid positive persons.

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