TNN, New Delhi :
The 2014 Lok Sabha election, which finally drew to a close on Monday, has earned the distinction of recording the highest voter turnout ever at 66.4%. This surpasses the 64% polling witnessed in the 1984 polls, held in extraordinary circumstances following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and makes the 58.2% turnout of 2009 pale in comparison.
This general election cost the government Rs 3,426 crore, which is 131% more than the Rs 1,483 crore spent on the 2009 polls. Apart from inflation, which has soared over the last five years, the Election Commission on Monday attributed the surge in poll costs to its rising spend on new measures including the voter awareness initiative titled Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP).
Interestingly, the first Lok Sabha polls in 1952 had cost just Rs 10.45 crore.
Having added a record 11.4 crore voters in the last five years, the EC on Monday proudly announced that even the voter turnout in absolute terms soared to 55.1 crore from 41.7 crore in the last parliamentary polls. This marks an increase of 32% in total votes cast compared to 2009.
The extraordinary voter enthusiasm in these polls was evident from the fact that 15 of the 35 states and Union territories recorded their highest ever turnouts, while 32 witnessed higher turnouts than the last poll in 2009. The top performers in terms of turnouts were smaller states and UTs such as Nagaland (88.6%), Lakshadweep (86.8%), Tripura (84.3%), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (84.1%) and Puducherry (82.2%). Among the bigger states, West Bengal impressed with 81.8% turnout (likely to go up once final figures come in), Odisha (74.4%), Andhra Pradesh (74.2%), Kerala (74.0%) and Tamil Nadu (73.7%).
However, the politically crucial states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were among the lowest-ranking states in terms of turnout, faring better than only Jammu & Kashmir. While UP recorded 58.6% overall turnout, Bihar saw 56.5% of its electorate turning up at polling stations. Militancy-hit Jammu & Kashmir recorded 50.1% polling, which though lower than the national average is a major improvement on the 39.7% turnout of 2009.
Interesingly,16 of the 35 states and UTs reported higher female turnout than male voter participation. These included Bihar, Punjab, Goa, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and Goa, among others.
For once, voter apathy no longer seemed to suppress turnouts in the cities. Ahmedabad (East) witnessed a 19% jump in polling percentage compared to 2009, while the corresponding rise was 18% in Jaipur, 17.5% in Lucknow, 14.9% in Kanpur and 14.8% in Surat. Mumbai South Central and Mumbai South, marked by low turnouts in 2009, recorded 14% and 12% surge in turnouts respectively, as did Delhi (13.3%), Bangalore constituencies (10%) and Gurgaon (11.3%).
