The higher voter turnout that the people of Uttarakhand have registered in the general elections seems to have provided food for thought to the leaders of different political parties who remained busy in assessing their winning prospects post- polling.
The Modi wave as the BJP has claimed has only made it a bit tougher for poll pundits here to reach a conclusion - whether the higher turnout is in favour of the Government or against it.
Yet, both the principal political parties in Uttarakhand i.e. the Congress and the BJP, have already interpreted the higher percentage of polling in their own way, claiming victories for themselves.
However, making an assessment of the higher polling percentage in Uttarakhand in 2014 lok Sabha elections in his party favour, senior BJP leader and chairman of BJP's Uttarakhand lok Sabha election campaign committee, Bachi Singh Rawat, here on Thursday claimed that the people are totally upset with the unprecedented level of inflation, unemployment and more importantly corruption under the Congress-led UPA regime. That is why the voters went to cast their votes in large number against the anti-popular policies of this Congress-led UPA Government.
"The higher turnout that Uttarakhand has witnessed is also a reflection of disappointment of people against this Congress led UPA Government," added Rawat.
At the same time, he also thanked the people of Uttarakhand for participating in the polling in large numbers.
While the BJP has attributed the higher turnout in Uttarakhand to the Modi wave and his vision for the country, many here also believe that perhaps extended timing for polling could also be a reason resulting in higher voter turnout in the hill State along with other States of the
country.
Polling percentage has improved even in hilly lok Sabha seats of Uttarakhand this time. For example, the voter turnout that was recorded about 46 per cent in the Almora-Pithoragarh parliamentary constituency in 2009 polls, reached about 52 per cent in 2014 elections. Similarly, the polling percentage in the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat (whose Nainital region is mostly hilly) that was registered about 58 per cent in 2009 lok Sabha elections, reached over 68 per cent in 2014 polls, as the figures provided by the state election commission suggest
Meanwhile, the polling percentage of Tehari lok Sabha seat that had recorded about 50 percent in 2009 polls, reached over 55 per cent in the 2014 elections. Similarly, the Pauri lok Sabha polling percentage has also gone above 53 per cent in 2014 from about 50 per cent in 2004.
More so, the polling percentage of the Haridwar lok Sabha seat which is in the centre of attraction as the Chief Minister Harish Rawat's wife Renuka Rawat is in the fray from that seat, has also shown a huge increase in its poll percentage registering about 73 per cent polling in these lok Sabha polls as compared to about 61 per cent polling it recorded in the previous 2009 elections.