Assam was fifth in 2019 with 81.6% turnout
Staff Reporter
Guwahati: In a democracy, voter participation in the election process is a crucial aspect, and the more participation, the better it is for democracy.
This aspect was noticed to a large extent in Assam during the general election of 2019, when voter participation was very good, and it will be significant to see the level of voter participation in the state during the upcoming general election to the 18th Lok Sabha, scheduled to be held in three phases on April 19, April 26, and May 7.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) also attaches great importance to voter participation in elections and conducts awareness campaigns through its Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) activity. SVEEP is the flagship programme of the Election Commission of India for voter education, spreading voter awareness, and promoting voter literacy in India. Activities under the SVEEP Programme are undertaken to educate the electors regarding the procedures relating to the registration of names in the electoral roll, the correction of their existing particulars in the electoral roll, and the deletion of the names of shifted and deceased family members.
According to statistics from ECI, the last Lok Sabha election in Assam in 2019 saw a voter participation of 81.6%, which was higher than the national average of 67.4%. Assam is the fifth-best state in voter turnout. However, the other four states and UTs with better performance in voter turnout are mostly smaller states, except for the state of West Bengal.
West Bengal registered a voter turnout of 81.76% in the LS polls of 2019. The other three are the Union Territory of Lakshadweep and the states of Nagaland and Manipur in the Northeast region. Incidentally, Lakshadweep registered the highest voter turnout in the country, with 85.21% of the electorate turning out to vote. However, the electorate of Lakshadweep numbers only 55,057.
Nagaland registered a voter participation of 83% and Manipur 82.69%, which are among the states with the highest turnout. Nagaland’s electorate comprises just over 12 lakh voters, and Manipur has over 19 lakh voters. Assam, on the other hand, had an electorate of 2.19 crore in the 2019 polls, which places the state among the bigger states with a huge turnout of voters.
This time, according to the final photo electoral roll, the total electorate in Assam has a total of 2,43,01,960 (2.43 crore), of which 1,21,79,358 are male voters, 1,21,22,188 are female voters, and 414 are third-gender ones.
It will be interesting to see whether Assam can achieve another record in voter turnout in the ensuing Lok Sabha election, 2024.
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