Puri: Puri Parliamentary constituency has recorded 72.53 per cent voter turnout in 2019 elections, at least 2 per cent less than the voting percentage in the segment in 2014 polls.
The voter turnout in Puri Lok Sabha seat was 74.71 per cent in 2014 elections. Many political observers blamed apathetic attitude of government officials for decline in voter turnout in Puri.
They alleged that people could not cast their votes as their names were missing from the voters’ list.
As per data, altogether 13, 91, 193 people were eligible to cast their votes in Puri LS seat in 2014 elections. However, 10, 39, 389 voters had exercised their franchise.
The constituency had altogether 15, 59, 548 voters in 2019 elections. Among them, 11, 31, 088 voters cast their votes in the April 23 polls.
Among all seven Assembly segments in Puri LS seat, Brahmagiri Assembly constituency has recorded the highest voter turnout while Puri Assembly seat witnessed the lowest polling.
According the Election Commission data, altogether 81.05 per cent voters have exercised their franchise in Brahmagiri Assembly segment while the figure was only 63.85 per cent in Puri Assembly seat.
The voter turnout was 74.89 per cent in Satyabadi Assembly seat, 77.3 in Pipli, 70.99 in Chilika, 70.42 in Ranpur and 70.08 in Nayagarh Assembly seat.
According to sources, the names of many eligible people were missing from the voters’ list for 2019 elections. Apart from that, many other mistakes were found from the voters’ list, sources added.
“My name has been mentioned twice in the voters’ list while we could not find my brother’s name from the list. Many voters faced similar problems,” said Soumitra Ranjan Harichandan, a voter from Puri Assembly seat.
Some social activists, meanwhile, urged the district administration to find out the exact cause of decline in voting percentage. “They should ascertain whether voters were reluctant to cast votes or mistakes in voters’ list prevented many eligible people from exercising their franchise,” said a social activist.