Heat Wave Causing Dip in Voter Turnout in Lok Sabha Election; ECI Forms a Task Force To Oversee
Image Source: Business Standard
On April 22, the ECI reported on a new task force to examine the effects of current weather conditions on health and humidity. This task force is formed by various national officials. The Election Commission of India, along with representatives from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the National Disaster Management Authority, and the Ministry of Health, organized this task force. The task force will examine conditions five days prior to each phase of polling. The Election Commission of India took this urgent step possibly due to concerns about heat waves. Several conditions may have contributed to a decline in voter turnout in the first phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha election.
The polling organization has not yet announced the final aggregate voting results. However, as of April 19, till 9 p.m. when the first phase of polling was conducted, the official average voting result of 62.34% was released.
Later on, nine districts saw an increase in voter turnout out of the 102 seats that saw polls open for business on Friday, while 92 saw a decrease. The percentage of votes cast for these seats has decreased by 4.4% from 69.9% five years ago to 65.5% in 2024.
The ECI issued data at 7 p.m. that showed West Bengal, which is ruled by the TMC, had the highest vote percentage, 77.57%. West Bengal saw lively polling throughout the morning. According to EC turnout estimates, 50.96% of voters had cast ballots by 1 p.m., the second-highest percentage behind Tripura, which had cast 53.04% of ballots by that time.
When questioned, a senior official stated that the most updated data about voters are on the Voter Turnout App. Also, they continued to say the data is fairly valid – “may be used for reference.”
The Voter Turnout App offers state-by-state data. However, it does not offer a total polling percentage for all 102 seats, which are dispersed throughout 21 States and Union Territories that were polled in the first round.
Two days following voting, an official announcement was released revealing the final aggregate turnout for the first phase of the 2019 General Election. In the first phase of the 2019 election, 69.43% of voters cast ballots.
In order to comprehend the evolving weather situation, as well as discuss steps to reduce any danger associated with hot weather during the general election, the Election Commission of India met with the IMD and members of the Union Home Ministry on Monday.
In a statement, the ECI stated that the Director-General of the IMD had advised it that there was no significant risk of heat waves for the second phase of the general election, which is set for April 26, and the weather forecast for the 13 States and Union Territories participating in the election was typical.
From April 19 to June 1, there will be seven phases of the Lok Sabha election. On June 4, the votes will be counted.
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