Image Courtesy:indiatvnews.com
The final phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections ended at 6 P.M on March 7, 2022 with a lukewarm average voter turnout of just 54.18 percent in the nine districts where voting took place today.
During this phase polling was held in 54 Assembly seats spread across nine districts: Azamgarh, Bhadohi, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Mau, Mirzapur, Sonebhadra and Varanasi. Phase 7 was the last and perhaps the most awaited phase of elections given how Azamgarh is the Samajwadi Party bastion, and Varanasi is seen as a stronghold of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had contested Parliamentary Elections from there.
At the time of going to press, figures were only available for voter turnout by 5 P.M. Now, typically, a high voter turnout points to an anti-incumbency factor. Therefore, a 52.31 percent turnout in Azamgarh will perhaps not be a major cause of concern for Akhilesh Yadav. Similarly, the voter turnout in Varanasi was also a tepid 52.95 percent, thus suggesting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might not have much to worry about here. Infact, the highest turnout in this phase came from Chandauli (59.54 percent), followed by Sonebhadra (56.86 percent).
उत्तर प्रदेश विधानसभा सामान्य निर्वाचन 2022
सातवें चरण के अंतर्गत 9 जनपदों में सायं 5 बजे तक कुल औसतन मतदान 54.18% रहा।#ECI#AssemblyElections2022 #विधानसभाचुनाव2022 #GoVote#GoVoteUP_Phase7 pic.twitter.com/TClbDdHicg
— CEO UP #DeshKaMahaTyohar (@ceoup) March 7, 2022
Sonebhadra is a tribal-dominated belt and is the traditional home of the Gond Adivasis and forest workers who make a living growing produce on forest land or by foraging for and selling forest produce. They have been locked in a pitched battle for forest rights with the local administration that is often allegedly in cahoots with crony capitalists out to exploit the forest land for mining and real estate purposes. Often the local Forest Department officials are roped in to intimidate Adivasis and villagers, dependent on forest land and produce. Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), SabrangIndia’s sister organization has been helping these Adivasi and forest-dwelling communities get their community forest rights as guaranteed by the Forest Rights Act (2006). You can read all about it here.
CJP has an active team of researchers and humanitarian workers in Purvanchal, as the easter region of UP is popularly called. CJP Varanasi team leader, Dr. Muniza Khan, who is a social scientist and human rights activist says, “We went to different areas of Varanasi to gauge the mood of the electorate. At Assi Ghat most people appeared to be BJP supporters. Near Ravidas Ghat though, we experienced something peculiar. At first, people sang praises of the BJP, but when they realized that we were not BJP members, they told us they had voted for Samajwadi Party. It is because of these apprehensions and such behaviour, that it is very difficult to ascertain what’s really on people’s minds.” However, Dr. Khan and the CJP team did find that education, inflation and employment were a huge concern among people.
As per voter turnout data for sub-divisions within Varanasi, Shivpur (55.7 percent) and Sevapuri (55.3 percent) had the highest voter turnout, with Varanasi Cantt recording an abysmal 48.5 percent.
Purvanchal is home to a large community of traditional weavers. These men and women work on both handlooms and power-looms and also engage in allied activities. A study by CJP to ascertain the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the lives and livelihood of people also found that systemic problems had predated the pandemic. These include faulty policies and improper implementation of subsidies – all of which ultimately enable larger corportates to virtually takeover and control the traditional Banarasi weaving industry and earn handsome profits from exports even as the benefits of these high profit margins rarely trickle down to the actual weavers and artisans. You can read our full report here.
Another study by CJP found that Covid-19 deaths were grossly under-reported in the state. From January 2020 to August 2021, the areas surveyed saw around 60% more recorded deaths than expected from 2019 records as well as from government data on the death rate in the state before the pandemic. If the rise in mortality in these areas was repeated across all of Uttar Pradesh, the state as a whole could have had around 14 lakh (1.4 million) excess deaths during the pandemic – roughly 60-times Uttar Pradesh’s official Covid-19 death toll of 23,000. Read more here.
From the above, it is clear that Purvanchal voters could have played a decisive role in turning the tide of the elections, but alas, the low turnout and allegations of fraud and intimidation paint a different picture.
The election in phase 7 wasn’t smooth, with the Samajwadi Party alleging that as many as 200 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were either faulty or had gone missing in as many as six constituencies! They also alleged that bogus voting and voter intimidation took place at multiple booths, and tweeted out booth numbers of the same. Here are a few examples:
जौनपुर जिले की बदलापुर विधानसभा 364 के बूथ नंबर 365, 366 पर हो रहा है फर्जी मतदान।
कार्रवाई करे चुनाव आयोग।@ECISVEEP @ceoup
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) March 7, 2022
मिर्जापुर जिले की 396 मिर्जापुर विधानसभा के बूथ नंबर 311 पर भाजपा विधायक बना रहे है वोटरों पर दवाब।
मामले का संज्ञान ले कार्रवाई करे चुनाव आयोग।@ceoup @ECISVEEP
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) March 7, 2022
आजमगढ़ की 345 सगड़ी विधानसभा के बूथ नंबर 228 पर ईवीएम खराब होने से मतदान प्रभावित।
संज्ञान ले कार्रवाई करे चुनाव आयोग।@ECISVEEP @ceoup
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) March 7, 2022
आजमगढ़ जिले की सगड़ी विधानसभा 345 के बूथ संख्या 238 पर ईवीएम खराब है 1 घंटे से मतदान कार्य बाधित है चुनाव आयोग कृपया संज्ञान ले @ECISVEEP @ceoup @dmazamgarh
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) March 7, 2022
Related:
Uttar Pradesh: Poll Day ‘campaigns’ continue online?
UP Assembly Election: Did voter turnout drop in later phases?
Alleged bogus voting, faulty EVMs reported: CJP to UP SEC