Today is National Voter’s Day. It’s befitting that it comes a day before our Republic Day, since everyone voting for the candidate and party they prefer, is key to India being a successful republic.
However, our city, Bengaluru, has a problem: everyone who is eligible doesn’t vote. In fact, the voting percentages in the last general and state Assembly elections were around 50 per cent, indicating that roughly half of those eligible voted. And in the last BBMP elections, it was worse. This raises a serious question about the democratic process and the responsibility of citizens to fulfil their democratic duty on election day.
The causes of the low voter percentage in Garden City have been debated several times. Some have highlighted incorrect or outdated voter lists. The fact that Bengaluru has a mobile population and voters keep shifting every few years and don’t update their voter IDs are some of the causes commonly cited.
Others have been more cynical about Bengaluru voters, citing anecdotes about how they prefer to use the holiday to leave town and enjoy themselves somewhere else rather than vote. This may be related to voters seeing very little to choose from among various candidates and parties, as well as how little it affects their lives. Hopefully, in the coming elections, they will see better candidates who can truly make a difference.
The Election Commission has taken several steps to minimise the inaccuracies of the voter list. Door-to-door enumeration, deleting the names of the deceased, and removing duplicates are some good steps that have been initiated by them. A yearly drive to update voter lists has also been happening. The Voter Helpline App makes it easier for a person to shift their voting to a new address or to register as a new voter. Citizens over 80 and disabled citizens get to vote from home. These steps need to be appreciated. Nevertheless, there is still a large part of the voter population that is unaware of these facilities, and even more, effort needs to be made to bring about a much higher voter percentage in Bangalore.
Firstly, strengthen the system of Booth Level Officers (BLO), who are the faces of the electoral system. Each BLO manages one booth of about a thousand voters and is responsible for collecting or verifying the data regarding additions or deletions. Given the high level of voter shifting in the city, BLOs need to spend a considerable amount of time doing their job well. The problem is that BLOs are often government school teachers or other government employees, for whom this is a thankless task. (Using government school teachers is particularly undesirable because it takes away their precious teaching time with students.) The Election Commission needs to better organise its resources and equip the BLOs, allowing them far more time to verify and update the list periodically; they must be appropriately compensated for their time and efforts.
Secondly, the backend process of then communicating with shifted voters to ensure they want to shift their ids also requires strengthening. This requires reaching out to them, repeated follow-up, and verification.
Thirdly, access to support for shifting your voter ID needs to be expanded. The Voter Helpline app is a great tool, but many still need assistance on how to use it. Training and enabling every tea shop owner, grocery store owner, and mobile retailer on how to support voters' use of the app can help create this access. They need to be given appropriate display material and remunerated for their effort. This will help make voter registration/updation easy and a regular process.
Finally, mass awareness campaigns are needed to educate voters about the importance of voting and keeping their voter ID cards up-to-date. Years ago, Tata's Jaago Re campaign was an excellent way to accomplish this. Similar campaigns need to be run now by the Election Commission using TV, radio, print, outdoor, and social media.
In the next 18 months or so, Bengaluru voters will see three elections: the state assembly elections in a few weeks, the BBMP corporator elections, and finally the general elections in mid-'24. It is critical to take the steps outlined above right away to ensure that voter turnout rises from the low 40–50% of the past to at least 70–75%, which is the state average.
Today, on National Voter’s Day, it’s a good time for all of us to spread the word and help get everyone’s voter IDs up-to-date. And it is time for the political parties to think about the quality of candidates they will offer and give their electorate truly worthwhile people to turn out for.
(The writer is Secretary for Bengaluru, Aam Aadmi Party.)