THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : While the state clocked an overall polling of over 77% in the previous Lok Sabha election, the low voter turnout in a few urban areas has stood out strikingly in the more recent polls. As per the data sourced from the Election Commission (EC), Thiruvananthapuram and Vattiyoorkavu assembly segments under the Thiruvananthapuram parliamentary constituency have been consistently registering the lowest voter turnout in the recent elections.
Tiruvalla and Chengannur, that are notable for large numbers of expatriate population, have also registered poor turnouts. Interestingly, constituencies in the Malabar had comparatively better polling rates compared to central and southern parts of the state.
Officials with the election department termed voter apathy in urban areas as a pan-Indian phenomenon and not a state-specific feature. It is seen as a reflection of the voters’ disillusionment with the current polity. However, in Kerala, where migration is high, the factor could also be a reason for dwindling voter turnout in certain pockets.
“In a city like Thiruvananthapuram, a large section of people reside for professional purposes. These voters get their names registered in the electoral roll but skip the election as they cannot connect with the local candidates,” said an official.
“We have seen that in some pockets in central Travancore, there is a correlation between the low turnout and the high Non Resident Keralite (NRK) population,” Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Sanjay Kaul told TNIE. He said that NRKs do not get their names deleted from the roll for emotional reasons.
“Since they are out of the country, most of them do not travel back to India just for voting,” Kaul said.
Also to be taken into account is the large chunk of young voters who get enrolled in the electoral roll but are away from their hometowns for educational purposes, the CEO pointed out.
Interestingly, the better voter turnout in Malabar, which has the major chunk of the NRK population, could be attributed to the special drives carried out by expatriate organisations to bring them to the state to vote. There have been instances where such organisations had arranged chartered flights from the Gulf exclusively for voters.
EC’s special initiatives
According to CEO (Kerala) Sanjay Kaul, the Election Commission has gone in for an exhaustive voter engagement programme to encourage youth to participate in the electoral process. “More than 1,500 electoral literacy clubs in educational institutions across the state are driving the initiative,” he said. “We have also adopted a targeted social media outreach aimed at the youth, The young voter enrolment that was just 77,000 last October has risen to nearly four lakh as of now,” the official added.