At a time when Lok Sabha Elections fever is at its peak, the people of India are participating in the festival of democracy and exercising their right to vote. Political leaders, actors, actresses, and even social media influencers are spreading awareness among people to exercise their right to vote. However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has observed low voter turnout in its first 4 phases of the voting. (While writing) Votings for phase 5 are going on and the voter turnout is still low.
As per the ECI, the Phase 1 overall turnout was 66.14%, Phase 2 was 66.71%, Phase 3 was 65.68%, and Phase 4 was 69.16%. In the age of social media, many thought that voters would come out in large numbers to vote. However, the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 is witnessing a lower voter turnout. As a result, many are wondering what it means. Whether lower voters turn out means that people are not happy with PM Modi's work and hence they are coming in lower numbers. Another aspect is people are not seeking change and are therefore voting for PM Modi and not the INDIA block. Now, former political strategist and Jan Suraaj leader Prashant Kishor has decoded the lower voter turnout meaning.
What does lower voter turnout mean in Lok Sabha Elections 2024?
Talking to Barkha Dutt on her YouTube Channel, Prashant Kishor said, "If we go by official data released by the Election Commission, then not much drastic drop has been witnessed in first two polling percentage. It is not a massive significant drop. There is no correlation of voting percentage with the election results. No evidence says that low turnout will benefit incumbents or even harm them. These are only chatters that media do because of low voter turnout."
"Suppose there is low turnout, then political commentators start discussing who will benefit from it and who will not. But, it is nothing like that. It's like the stock market. The market is running from morning to evening. If you keep watching the market channel then every minute you will see some turbulence. But, that is not the fundamental thing that drives the market. Similarly, voting behaviour do not vary or fluctuate so much that the media is talking about."
"On a fundamental level, like you are saying people are against Modi. There is not much Modi wave this time. But, it was you who was thinking about the Modi wave. The ground reality is totally different. Some people are also against Modi. In January I said that don't think like there is no opposition. People are opposing Modi as well. But the opposition parties are not that capable to covert that into votes. In January, everyone was saying that there is a Ram Mandir wave. But, it was I who said that the BJP wouldn't get many incremental votes due to Ram Mandir. Although the BJP supporters are feeling charged up. On the ground level, people are not voting in the name of Ram Mandir," added Prashant Kishor.