The rural voters have a lesson or two to teach on the importance of voting in a democratic country as expressed by overwhelming turnout in the hinterlands of Ranchi on the one hand and absolutely disappointing turnout in the urban constituency considered more vocal about the citizens’ rights and duties, on the other hand.
Barely 40 km away from the Capital elections were celebrated as a festival and the turnout speaks for the significance of the greatest democratic festival celebrated once in five years. “This is our duty. How can we skip thatIJ It comes once in five years so, I can’t miss the opportunity,” said lalu Mahto of Kadli village under Kanke constituency.
Interestingly, polling at some of the booths under Kanke constituency has been extremely encouraging and a sign of democracy strengthening its root in areas where India as a democratic country is more visible than in areas that are perceived to be more democratic. Even as Murupiri under Kanke registered about 85 per cent polling at one booth Aktan, also under Kanke, smashed records with close to 89 per cent voting. Overall voting percentage in Kanke was recorded at 59.73 per cent.
“Murupiri’s reason for a great turnout has been Jitu Charan Ram. He is a local candidate to which people associate themselves with. He is easily accessible to the villagers so it infuses a voter with hope of getting attention of their MlA and a better solution to their problem,” said Shiv Charan Ram BlO of a booth at Murupiri.
According to sources, overwhelming turnout at Murupiri had instigated actions from security personnel who wanted polling to stop although with the consent of the officials. But when it became clear that there is no harm in polling even if it reaches 100 per cent then the voting proceed till the very end, said a source. The contradiction—higher percentage in areas where voices are suppressed and lower in areas where voices are raised more often than not—calls for introspection as acknowledged by the Chief Electoral Officer of Jharkhand, PK Jajoria. The CEO appeared disappointed with the poor show of Ranchi and apprehensive of the overall performance getting pulled down due to lower polling percentage.
“It is a matter of conducting survey to ascertain the reasons (for low turnout). But it appears to be a case of urban apathy and puts question mark over the awareness drives conducted in the district. Performances like these impair performance of the state,” maintained the CEO. Notably, despite awareness programmes conducted under Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation, Ranchi failed to sustain the level of turnout during 2014 lok Sabah (lS) elections. The capital had registered 53.38 per cent turnout during parliamentary elections and the performance went down to 48.51 barely eight months since the lS elections. Ranchi featured at the bottom of the polling percentage tally of 17 constituencies that went to poll in the third phase of election on December 9.