Lok Sabha Polls 2024 | In Bengaluru, it's the same old story as apathy rules on voting day

Bengaluru: As most of the 14 constituencies in Karnataka improved their turnout percentage compared to the 2019 general election, three constituencies in Bengaluru’s urban seemed to be sliding backwards, with the data indicating a lower turnout.

Bangalore Rural, however, performed better. As per tentative data provided by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Bangalore North saw a turnout of 54.42%, a little less (0.34%) than the 54.76% in 2019. Bangalore Central slid by -1.51% to 53.81% while Bangalore South registered 53.15% turnout.

In Bangalore Rural, as many as 67.29% of the 28 lakh voters exercised their franchise, an improvement of 2.31% over the 2019 numbers.

However, a closer look at the data showed that the two urban Assembly segments of Rajarajeshwarinagar and Bangalore South performed poorly, with about 55% polling. While Anekal saw about 60% polling, all the remaining segments recorded over 80%.

As per the final electoral roll, Bangalore North had 32.14 lakh voters, followed by Bangalore Central (24.33 lakh) and Bangalore South (23.41 lakh). Additional polling booths were set up to reduce waiting time for the voters.

Moreover, officials who had studied the voting patterns in the previous election had organised special voter awareness campaigns for the constituencies in Bengaluru in an effort to improve the participation. However, it showed no significant impact on the polling day.

Gangadharappa, a 61-year-old voter in Okalipuarm, summed up the voter apathy as he said there was no reason for him to cast vote.

“All they want to do is improve themselves. They have not given me anything and I don’t owe them anything,” he said.

To a question, an official said the numbers for all the 14 constituencies may improve further in the final tally. “For Bengaluru, the numbers may not bring big changes. However, it should be noted that the three constituencies also have high number of voters,” he added.