SHILLONG: The 2019 District Council elections witnessed slight decrease in turnout of voters in comparison to the 2014 Council elections.
The final turnout of electorate to the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) polls of Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills held on Wednesday was 76.67 per cent and 89.22 per cent respectively while the overall turnout stands at 79.60 per cent.
Addressing reporters on Thursday, Commissioner and Secretary of District Council Affairs (DCA), Tining Dkhar said the previous turnout record of 2014 Council elections to the two ADCs was around 92 per cent for Jaintia Hills and close to 78 per cent for Khasi Hills.
Blaming the inclement weather on Wednesday that discouraged people from coming out to vote, he maintained, “Figures are well and good. It seems it is an encouraging figure.”
Commenting on the urban-rural variation in poll turnout, he said factors for urban apathy was not known but he observed that people were anxious about the performance of the representatives which makes them hesitant to vote in the District Council elections.
Asked on report of any untoward incident during polling, Dkhar said people were aware of the need to maintain peace and harmony which is the basic tenet of democracy.
With allegations of distribution of money during the day of polling doing the rounds, he said there was no complaint of such incidents in writing and it was difficult to ascertain the authenticity and genuineness of such incidents.
Figures
The percentage of total votes polled in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) in urban areas is above 60 per cent and did not exceed 70 per cent.
Nongthymmai recorded lowest turnout with 48.504 per cent. The smallest urban constituency, Laban-Mawprem recorded 64.84 per cent of total votes polled while Mawlai which is the biggest constituency in the KHADC has polled 68.61 per cent votes.
In rural areas, the percentage of votes polled is above 70 and below 90. Mylliem recorded polling percentage of 69.88. Nongshken constituency recorded the highest polling of 88.22 per cent.
For Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC), the figures were high with total votes polled touching above 80 per cent.
The highest polling in JHADC took place at Tuber constituency that recorded polling of 96.41 percent while the lowest polling was recorded at Jowai (North) constituency at 81.12 per cent.