By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Urban apathy continues to reduce the vote percentage in many urban constituencies of the State whether in Shillong or Tura.
The lowest voter’s turnout in the whole State was reported from Shillong North with 71.45 per cent of votes polled followed by Nongthymmai with 71.66 per cent.
Other urban areas which witnessed low turnout include Shillong East (73.63 per cent), Shillong South (74.79 per cent) and Shillong West (78.35 per cent).
In West Garo Hills, the town areas like South Tura (73.25 per cent) and North Tura (77.21 per cent) saw decrease in the percentage of votes polled compared to other constituencies.
A day after elections were held in the State, Chief Electoral Officer P Naik said that the trend in urban constituencies during the past Assembly and Lok Sabha polls was also not encouraging.
Constituencies in many rural areas of the State witnessed over 80 per cent turnout of voters while in some constituencies the figure even crossed the 90 per cent mark, Naik informed, adding that a similar trend had been noticed in the previous elections also.
According to Naik, the bandh called by HNLC had nothing to do with the low turnout in urban areas in Shillong as voters came out in large numbers despite the threat.
Attributing the low turnout to several factors, Naik said that one of the reasons may be that the large numbers of students from the State, who are studying outside, were unable to return for voting.
“There can also be absentee voters as they are out of station from Shillong,” he added.
“Another factor can be the pre occupation of the people in urban areas,” Naik said, while pointing out yet another factor that the people may not like to stand in long queue.
The busy pace of life in the urban centers as compared to rural areas, where people gather in large numbers, has also resulted in low turnout.
However, Naik admitted that the innovations through graffiti, paragliding, posters, banners and road shows helped in larger participation of voters and also in enrolment of voters prior to the elections.
“The Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation also helped in a large way in increasing the voters’ turn out,” Naik said.
Urban polling percentage
Shillong North: 71.45
Nongthymmai: 71.66
South Tura: 73.25
Shillong East: 73.63
Shillong South: 74.79
North Tura: 77.21
Shillong West: 78.35