Maharashtra Votes Today: WIll EC efforts boost Mumbai’s low voter turnout trends?

Maharashtra Election 2024: On October 15, while announcing the poll dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections, Chief Electoral Commissioner (CEC), Rajiv Kumar blamed ‘urban apathy’ for the lack of enthusiasm among voters that leads to low turnout during elections.

The CEC said the commission deliberately scheduled the polling days in Maharashtra and Jharkhand in the middle of the week to ensure better turnout. Kumar flagged the issue of low turnout in urban centres including Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra. 

Kumar said the issue of ‘Urban and Youth Apathy’ is a major concern for the poll panel and that it is taking a number of steps to increase voter turnout in Mumbai and elsewhere.

Mumbai election turnout history

Mumbai, like all of Maharashtra, votes on Wednesday, November 20. And, as pointed out by the CEC, voters have not been enthusiastic in past elections, in terms of exercising their franchise.

Mumbai has historically struggled with low voter turnout. In recently held polls, however, Mumbai has shown some improvement in turnout by crossing the 50 per cent mark. 

In the 2019 assembly elections, for example, Mumbai recorded a voter turnout of 50.67 per cent. The turnout was 51.21 per cent in 2014 assembly polls.

Before 2014, Mumbai would struggle to even touch 50 per cent turnout in assembly polls. The voter turnout in 2009 state polls for Mumbai was 46.1 per cent. In 2004 assembly polls, it was 48.4 per cent and in 1999 assembly polls Mumbai recorded 44.9 per cent voter turnout.

In the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Mumbai recorded 52.4 per cent voter turnout down form 55.4 per cent turnout in 2019 elections.

Efforts to increase voter turnout in Mumbai

Among steps by ECI, officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have been assigned with the responsibility of monitoring the voter turnout this election. In the past, elections were monitored by the district administration.

For the first time, the poll panel has appointed the municipal commissioner as the District Election Officer for both districts of Mumbai – Mumbai Urban (Island City) and Mumbai Suburban. In the past, collectors of Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban independently handled the role of district election officers under the ECI's supervision, as is the case elsewhere in the country.

Among other efforts, the Mumbai district election officer has asked establishments, businesses and other workplaces within the BMC limits to grant paid leaves to their employees for casting votes on November 20.

Mumbai voting awareness campaigns

Mumbai has about 1,02,29,708 eligible voters, comprising 25,43,610 in the Mumbai city and 76,86,098 in the suburban district.

Additionally, each polling station in Mumbai has been equipped with assured minimum facilities for voters — drinking water, designated seating arrangements for persons in queue, waiting rooms, fans, adequate light, drinking water arrangements in queues, clean toilets, trash bins, wheelchairs, and ramps for persons with disabilities (PwD), and more.

Mumbai has 36 assembly seats, 10 in the island city and 26 in the suburban district. A total of 10,117 voting booths have been set up--2,538 in the island city and 7,579 in the suburban district.

The poll panel also organised voter awareness campaigns . One such is ‘Know Your Polling Station' aimed at raising awareness of polling stations. Under this campaign, Booth Level Officers visited voters' homes to inform about any change in polling station location. Also, a letter with a QR code providing polling station details has been distributed to each voter.

So, with voting booths ready and awareness campaigns in full swing, will the EC's efforts finally help Mumbai beat its low voter turnout trends? Time will tell as the city heads to the polls tomorrow.