Voter turnout in Haryana Assembly election lowest in last 19 years

Voting for Haryana assembly elections has been completed. According to the data available on the Election Commission website, 63.55 percent voters used the franchise to elect their representative in 90 seats in the state.

The voting to elect its new government for the next 5 years is the lowest voting percentage in the last 19 years during the assembly elections. Earlier, till 5 pm, 53.78 percent voters had exercised their franchise. However, after 5 pm the polling gained some momentum and by 6 pm the polling figure had reached 61.62 per cent.

The pace of voting has been slow since morning. The enthusiasm which has was seen in the last elections was missing this time. The figure might go up a notch higher since people were still in the booths after the entry cutoff time, but given the slow pace, it is clear that the voting figures will be the lowest in the 21st century. Experts are giving disappointment to the government as the main reason behind not leaving the voters’ house in Haryana elections.

Continuously increasing voting data

Previously, the percentage of polling has increased since 2000. In the 2000 assembly elections, the turnout was 69 percent. In 2005, the vote percentage increased to 71.9 percent with a 2.9 percent increase, while in 2009 the vote percentage reached 72.3 percent with a slight increase of 0.4 percent.

Voting scenario in 2014

In the 2014 elections too, there was a total turnout of 76.6 percent with an increase of 4.3 percent compared to 72.3 in 2009. The BJP won 47 seats with 33.3 percent of the vote. The then ruling Congress was reduced to just 15 seats with 20.7 percent vote share. The Indian National Lok Dal emerged as the second largest party after the BJP. The INLD was able to win 19 seats with 24.2 percent votes. Independents won five seats with 10.6 per cent of the vote and NOTA also held 0.4 per cent of the votes.