Rural voters of Silli constituency outperformed the urban elites of Ranchi in casting their votes on Thursday by a huge margin — a trend that may highlight the lackadaisical approach of urban voters in exercising their franchise.
Ranchi, which witnessed a polling percentage of 65.13 in the recently held General Elections 2019, only saw 49.10 per cent voters casting their votes by 5 pm on Thursday. Ranchi was the only constituency among the 17 constituencies that went to polls on Thursday to have all polling stations in urban areas.
On the contrary, Silli, which had only rural polling booths, witnessed a voters’ turnout of a whopping 77 per cent – the highest among all the constituencies that votes in the third phase of polls. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vinay Kumar Choubey, however, said that the polling percentage in Ranchi had increased by more than 0.5 per cent compared to the 2014 Assembly elections. “We should look at the positive side. The polling percentage in Ranchi has increased compared to the Assembly elections in 2014,” he said, without mentioning about the higher polling percentage of 17th General Elections here.
Ranchi Parliamentary constituency is spread across six Assembly segments – Ranchi, Hatia, Silli, Khijri, Ichagarh and Kanke. The higher polling percentage during General Elections too can be attributed to the higher number of rural voters in the Ranchi Parliamentary constituency compared to the Ranchi Assembly segment, say political experts.
Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray on Wednesday instructed all offices in Ranchi to provide leaves to voters, so they can cast their votes. He also said that the District Administration may take action against offices that remain open on Thursday and keep their employees from voting.
As many as 3,46,765 voters are enrolled in the electoral roll in Ranchi. Out of these electors, only 1.7 lakh odd voters exercised their franchise on Thursday in 151 polling stations spread across the urban constituency. Ranchi was also among the few constituencies where polling was allowed till 5 pm as there is no presence of Left Wing Extremist (LWE) outfits in the constituency. The polling was allowed in Silli and Ichagarh only till 3pm. Ichagarh, despite the presence of LWE groups and sensitive zones in the constituency, managed to achieve a voters’ turnout of 73 per cent – the second highest in the third phase of elections.