West Bengalin the first round of two-phase Assembly election on Thursday, April 23, saw a tsunami of voters as it recorded its highest ever voter turnout clocking at 92.72 per cent. ChiefElection CommissionerGyanesh Kumar said that the voter turnout of 91.78 per cent so far in the first phase of the West Bengal assembly polls was the state’s highest-ever percentage since Independence. The polling data was updated later and stood at 92.72 per cent. In the first phase, voting took place in 152 constituencies across 16 districts that sealed the electoral fate of 1,478 candidates, including 167 women. The second phase will take place on April 29 and counting of votes is set for May 4.
"This is the highest-ever percentage in West Bengal since Independence," Gyanesh Kumar said. Data shared by the Commission showed that the previous highest turnout in the state was 84.72 per cent during the 2011 assembly elections. Moreover, in Thursday’s polling, women voters outnumbered men in participation, with the female turnout touching 92.69 per cent against 90.92 per cent by male electors. The turnout of third-gender voters stood at 56.79 per cent.
Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi monitored the voting through live webcasting from all polling stations, officials said.
They attributed the sharp rise in turnout to a series of voter-friendly measures, including improved voter information slips, reduced number of electors per booth and enhanced assistance for persons with disabilities.
Though the polling turnout figures remain provisional as data from some polling stations is still being updated, and postal ballots are yet to be included in the final count, let's explore what led to this record-breaking turnout and what it means for both -- the BJP and Trinamool Congress.
The updation of the electoral roll after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, which was opposed by the incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has reduced the denominator (total number of eligible voters) in the state, that has directly impacted the overall turnout in the election.
Lower Denominator means that the roll revision has taken out the inactive voters in Bengal, for example, dead voters, duplicates, fake voters, illegal immigrants, among others. So, therefore, since the overall strength of voters has reduced by lakhs, this has resulted in the high voter turnout.
The mechanism works like -- for example, before the SIR, there were many dead voters, duplicate voters, or fake voters whose names were there on the electoral roll, but they never showed up. So, on paper, you have a large electorate, but that did not translate into the actual turnout. But after the SIR exercise, all those inactive voters were removed from the electoral roll, so what's left was genuine voters who actually turned up for the vote, therefore raising the overall turnout. Also, the return of migrant voters has also pushed the overall turnout.
Another factor that is being analysed for the record voter turnout in the first round of elections is whether it was anti-incumbency or pro-incumbency.
Both the BJP and Trinamool Congress (TMC) are viewing the high voter turnout in their favour. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeing the record turnout as a vote against Mamata Banerjee and a vote for change.
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