BHUBANESWAR: With around 54 per cent polling, the capital region posted an impressive 8.45 per cent growth in its voter turnout in the recently concluded elections to Bhubaneswar parliamentary constituency.
As per statistics of the Election Commission of India, Bhubaneswar-Central, Bhubaneswar-North and Ekamra-Bhubaneswwar - the three Assembly segments under Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat, recorded a combined polling percentage of 53.87 per cent. In fact, for the first time all the three Assembly segments defied their voting trend by polling more than 50 per cent votes.
Bhubaneswar-Central Assembly constituency recorded 51.28 per cent voter turnout compared to a mere 43.25 per cent in 2019. It recorded an 8.30 per cent growth in voting. Bhubaneswar-North registered 53.93 per cent turnout, a growth of 8.59 per cent over 45.39 per cent in 2019. Ekamra-Bhubaneswar that had polled 47.64 per cent votes in 2019 also recorded a turnout of 56.42 per cent, registering an 8.78 per cent growth.
Apart from the three Assembly seats of the city, four other segments - Jayadev, Begunia, Khurda and Jatni - have also recorded 80.77 per cent, 71.96 per cent, 72.25 per cent and 70.19 per cent helping the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency to log its highest voting percentage of 64.49 per cent in the last one-and-a-half decade. In 2019 general elections, the constituency had witnessed a turnout of 59.60 per cent, while in 2014 it had recorded 58.38 per cent.
Congratulating voters of all the Assembly segments, chief election officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal said the Election Commission of India had taken several measures to raise awareness among voters to increase the polling percentage of the constituency, especially the three Assembly segments of the capital city.
Khurda collector and district election officer Chanchal Rana said apart from the awareness drive, ‘Mo Booth’ app had also been introduced to help voters of the Assembly segments of the district to find the name and route of their polling station as well as number of people waiting in queue at any given point of time.
Former chief secretary Sahadev Sahoo said first-time voters as well as elderly people turning up at polling stations in the evening after the weather improved contributed a lot to the increase. “It could have been more if the population in the age group of 30 to 60 had turned up in significant numbers,” he said.