HYDERABAD: Hyderabad lived up to its dubious reputation of poor polling percentage. Standing at 46.56% as per the last report that came in, the voter turnout for 15 Assembly constituencies in the Hyderabad district was abysmally low. Hyderabad has the highest number of Assembly constituencies in the state and it recorded the lowest turnout among all 33 districts in Telangana.
Following Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri district reported a turnout of 49.25% and Rangareddy district 59.94%. Incidentally, these three areas form the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area, dragging down the overall percentages. All other districts reported voting percentages exceeding 65%.
In 2018, the turnout was a little over 50% and in 2014, it was around 53%. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to release the final voter turnout data.
Despite raising awareness among voters across the twin cities and the government declaring a general holiday, citizens failed to show any interest in going to polling booths to cast their votes. Authorities feel that voters in Hyderabad are active when it comes to posting on social media about politics, but go numb when it comes to vote.
To increase the polling percentage this time, the GHMC had circulated videos of sports and film icons and local influencers on social media platforms and displayed them on screens at MGBS and Secunderabad railway station. However, most of the IT employees and other salaried people stayed away from voting and remained indoors.