Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Friday held a meeting with senior officials of the country’s major cities and select states and directed them to make efforts to improve voter turnout in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. 

The ECI identified urban-specific hurdles and recommended the development of tailored, region-specific outreach programmes according to the demographics of the constituency.

Municipal Commissioners (MCs) from major cities and District Election Officers (DEOs) from a few states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, were among those present in the meeting.

CEC Kumar said that 266 Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) with low voter turnout have been identified and all MCs, DEOs and state chief election officers have been asked to reach out to voters in a targeted manner.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, ECI holds ‘Conference on Low Voter Turnout’ with Municipal Commissioners and DEOs from selected districts to increase voter turnout in 2024 Lok Sabha Elections

On the occasion, the EC also released a booklet titled ‘Voter’s Apathy’. It said that nine states and union territories (UTs) reported a voter turnout lower than the national average of 67.4 per cent in the 2019 general elections. These were Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand.

The problem was more severe in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Out of the total 50 rural PCs across 9 states identified with lower voter turnout than the national average in 2019, 40 were from Uttar Pradesh (22) and Bihar (18).

The booklet said that 297 million eligible voters did not vote in the 2019 general elections. It added that of the 50 constituencies with the lowest voter turnout in the 2019 general elections, 17 were in metropolitan or major cities.

“Recent elections across various states have highlighted trends of urban apathy towards the electoral process, warranting targeted interventions and collaborative endeavours,” the EC statement said.

 The ECI identified urban-specific hurdles and recommended the development of tailored, region-specific outreach programs according to the demographics of the constituency.

CEC Kumar asked the officials to prepare a booth-wise action plan to enhance voter participation and introduce behaviour change in them. He said that different strategies should be prepared according to the target audience, emphasising that the “One size fits all” approach would not yield results.

The ECI emphasised a three-pronged strategy of providing facilitation at polling stations. It included queue management, shelter parking in congested areas; targeted outreach & communication; and involvement of critical stakeholders like resident welfare associations, local icons and youth influencers to persuade people to come to polling stations. “Modern communication methods, such as social media and mobile apps, can help reach electors and make it easier for them to engage in the electoral process,” the booklet added. The polling for seven-phased Lok Sabha polls is scheduled to begin on April 19.