With the Assembly elections for the State set to be announced anytime now poll preparations are constantly under review while the authorities are also striving to increase the voting percentage through awareness drives and programmes.
The Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) is one such endeavour under which a slew of events are held to create public awareness on the importance of voting. Recently, a candle light march was conducted in Mysuru as part of SVEEP and the Deputy Commissioner, K.V. Rajendra, underlined the importance of creating awareness among every citizen and the need for the public to exercise their franchise.
But an analysis of the voting percentage of earlier elections indicates that SVEEP is more important and required in urban areas than in the rural hinterland in Mysuru where the voting percentage has constantly been hovering around 80 per cent.
For instance the Chamaraja segment in Mysuru city is reckoned to have the maximum number of educated voters. But the voting percentage is among the least. In the 2018 Assembly elections, the polling per centage was 59.67. The total number of electors was 2,35,672 of whom only 1,37,904 exercised their franchise.
In Krishnaraja Assembly segment it was no better and the polling percentage was 59.54. Out of 2,47,135 registered voters only 1,47,235 people ventured to go out and exercise their franchise.
Narasimharaja segment has a similar tale and there were 2,62,066 registered voters against which only 1,61,939 people voted, the polling percentage being 61.79. This is true of even the earlier elections and the higher the urbanisation and the number of ‘’educated’’ voters, the lower the turnout.
The voting in Mysuru rural has always presented a picture of contrast. Inn H.D.Kote, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes and has a high percentage of tribal voters reckoned to be educationally ‘’backward’’, the polling percentage has been higher. In 2018 there were 2,14,900 registered voters against which 1,71,061 people exercised their franchise and the voting percentage was 79.60.
In Hunsur with a sizeable presence of adivasis who live in hamlets and are struggling for rehabilitation ever since their eviction, the voting percentage was 83.04 in the 2018 elections. In K.R.Nagar, the voting percentage was 85.87 while in Periyapatna it was 86.31. Nanjangud had a voting percentage of 78.57 while in T.Narsipur the polling percentage was 78.29.
Chamundeshwari constituency, which is a mix of Mysuru rural and urban conglomerate, had a voting percentage of 76.48 while in Varuna the polling percentage as 79.20. The low turnout in urban Mysuru is true of earlier elections as well.
Observers point out that though the educated voters are among the most vocal in complaining of lack of civic amenities and decry the ‘’administrative apathy’’ to their concerns, they are not proactive when it comes to exercising their franchise. The rural belt is beset with existential issues such as agrarian crisis, lack of support price, farmers’ suicide etc., and yet the rural electorate take their responsibility seriously.
