Sunday, 16 January 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The Founder of Social Development for Communities (SDC) foundation Anoop Nautiyal has advocated for Uttarkashi model for increase in voting percentage in the mountainous areas of the state. He said that the governments, policy makers and public representatives should deeply understand the reasons for the high percentage of voting in Uttarkashi district as compared to hill districts.
The SDC foundation has released a report ‘ Migration and Uttarakhand Election 2017’ which is based on the voting patterns and percentages of the assembly elections of 2017 in the state.
The report claims that the number of voters in the assembly seats in the hilly areas is less than in the plain areas, as well as fewer people go to vote in these areas than in the plain areas. In this way, about 40 to 50 per cent of the voters of mountainous areas are not able to participate in the democratic process. According to the report, heavy migration in the state is one of the likely reasons behind the low turnout.
Nautiyal said that in the 2017 assembly elections, the average turnout in Uttarakhand was 65.6 per cent and except Uttarkashi district, the voting in all other mountainous districts was far less than the average turnout of the state. The lowest polling percentage was in the districts of Tehri, Pauri and Almora. Nauitiyal said that in the plains district of Haridwar; the assembly constituencies of Laksar, Haridwar (Rural) and Piran Kalier had the highest voting in the state. The turnout in the three constituencies was between 81 and 82 per cent.
He added that Lansdowne and Chaubattakhal in Pauri district and Salt in Almora district recorded the lowest voter turnout of 46 to 48 per cent. The polling percentage in Ghansali in Tehri district was also less as only 49.19 percent votes were cast here. Of the 34 constituencies in nine hill districts, the vote percentage of 28 was below the state average of 65.6 per cent.
Nautiyal said that only Uttarkashi district had recorded a good polling percentage (69.38 per cent) in the mountainous districts and for the state Uttarkashi should serve as a role model.
The report also states that all the five constituencies of the provisional state capital Dehradun, Raipur, Mussoorie, Rajpur Road, Dharampur and Dehradun Cantt the turnout was very low with less than 60 per cent voter coming out to exercise their franchise in the 2017 assembly polls.
Nautiyal said that the Election Commission (EC) should make efforts to increase the voting percentage in other hilly areas like Uttarkashi district. In view of the Covid restrictions, efforts can be made with the help of technology.
