Turnout for Bangalore polls was 53%, not 44.04%: SmartVote campaign

The SmartVote campaign on Friday questioned the statistics put out by the SEC, claiming that the poll percentage in the March 28 BBMP polls was actually 53%, not 44.04% as estimated by the SEC.

“Bangalore’s total population is about 80 lakh, as per the census of 2001. The state election commission claims that there are 70 lakh voters in the city, which is not an acceptable figure. Census data also shows that about 73% of the population of the city is above 18 years of age, and therefore eligible to vote. In effect, that means that the population of those eligible to vote is about 56 lakh. Of the 56 lakh people eligible to vote, not all are registered as voters. The total number of those on the rolls as voters could thus be estimated at 50 lakh. As per the SEC, 30,72,799 votes were polled on March 28. That means that the turnout in the polling was 53%, not 44.04% as estimated by the SEC,” claims Amar Krishnaswamy, co-founder of SmartVote.

Members of SmartVote demanded that the SEC admit that the voter list it used for the BBMP polls were erroneous, grossly exaggerating the number of voters.

Campaigners associated with SmartVote demanded to know the basis of the SEC’s calculations, and an explanation for how the 44.04% figure was arrived at.Prithvi Reddy, co-founder of SmartVote said, “By telling people that the voter turnout was less, political parties rob the ward committees of legitimacy in the people’s eyes. Also, political parties can use the low turnout figure to claim that since people stayed away from polling, they have no right to make demands on the local government.”

Reddy added that the voters’ list that was used during the BBMP polls by the SEC had no sanctity. He claimed that it had several erroneous entries, and there was no doubt that the number of voters had been inflated.

PG Bhat, president of Pluma Software Solutions, the firm that developed the website of SmartVote, which was aimed at aiding Bangalore’s voters, said that registration of voters should be possible on all working days.

People should also be able to check the status of voter registration, and keep abreast of deletions or additions. Since it was perhaps not feasible for staff to be dedicated solely for this purpose year-round, he suggested that government bodies that are local and well-networked be utilised.

“The SEC must use organisations like post offices, which are well-networked and localised for the purpose of drawing up and maintaining the electoral rolls,” Bhat said.

Bhat added that the state election commission of Tamil Nadu had taken up a drive to cleanse the voters list, which has been going on for one year. “It is high time for such an exercise in Karnataka,” said Bhat.

Bhat underlined that the process of updating and maintaining a voters’ list could be made simpler with the optimum use of IT tools. The lists were inaccurate this time as there were repeated entries for a single name, which was spelt differently each time. The list was also not updated, to remove the names of dead people or those who had moved out of the city. SEC and BBMP authorities, however, did not admit that there were any discrepancies.