Polls may be held midweek to get more urban votes this time

Election day for many voters, especially in urban centres, means a holiday or an occasion for an outstation trip if it falls close to the weekend. This has been cited as one of the reasons for low voter turnout in previous elections in cities.

To counter this, the Election Commission of India is planning to hold elections midweek this time.

“Clubbing election date with a weekend saw many voters travelling out. To prevent skipping of voting, the election date could be in the middle of the week so that the urban voter comes to the polling booth instead of travelling,” sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer said.

While the 2013 Assembly elections was held on a Sunday, the three-phase elections to the State legislature in May 2008 had two phases being held on a weekend — one on a Saturday and another on a Friday. For the Election Commission, which is striving to increase voter turnout by improving accessibility, the urban count has been disappointing. “Last time, urban voter turnout was just above 50%, while in rural areas it was higher than 70%. We need to improve the urban voter turnout by at least 8% to 10%,” a senior official said.

Polls dates to be announced any time

With another team of officials from Election Commission of India visiting Bengaluru from Tuesday to assess the poll readiness here, sources say that the countdown for announcing the dates has commenced. Sources said that all major election-related work, including preparation of summary rolls and identification of officials for the polls, have been completed. “Election could be declared any time,” said an official.