The voting percent has a big significance. Voting percentage determines the outcome of elections. Low voting and high voting percentage may have different results. Urban areas in India have had a lower voting percentage in the past but it is improving. There are several reasons for low voting turnout in urban areas. In urban areas mostly voters are residents of other areas. They go to urban areas to earn their livelihood.
Their attention mostly lies in meeting the requirements of daily life. Besides they do not involve so closely themselves to the local political affairs. But in the current time especially after 2014 the urban voters are tying themselves with national and international affairs and they vote for the enhancement of the stature of India at international fora. Besides easy and swift voting by the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) also bring the urban voters to the polling booths.
While in semi-urban and rural areas the voters are resident of their local area and vote as per their preference. People of rural and semi-urban areas vote as in group or in block. There are many considerations for their voting like caste, religion, local political pattern etc. In rural areas voters of one block has competition with other for political consideration and they vote in competition of each other. These are some of the reasons why voting in rural and semi-urban areas are more than that of urban. Besides north eastern States which have less population and less migration has also high voting per cent.
If we closely monitor the voting per cent then we observe that the seats with a high Muslim concentration has high voting per cent. In 2019 and in 2014 LS polls, the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat in Assam had highest voting percent with 90.66 and 88.36. Badruddin Ajmal of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) is representing the seat since 2009. This seat is known for Muslim concentration. This seat has elected only Muslims as their representative in Lok Sabha since 1952. In Assam besides Dhubri, Barpeta is also a Muslim dominated Lok Sabha seat where voting per cent was more than 86 per cent and 84 per cent plus in 2019 and 2014 LS elections. Lakshadweep Lok Sabha seat is also a case in point where voting per cent remains nearly 85 per cent barring one or two instances.
In 2019 LS poll the BJP got the least votes for the Lakshadweep LS seat among the seats the party contested. Since 1967 LS poll, only Muslims have been elected from Lakshadweep LS seats. Murshidabad LS seat in West Bengal is also known for Muslim concentration. The seat witnessed 84.29, 85.16, and 88.14 per cent voting in 2019, 2014 and 2009 LS polls, respectively. In West Bengal Maldaha Uttar and Maldaha dakshin seats are also known for Muslim concentration. These seats also witness high voting turnout. Most of the seats having Muslim concentration have on an average high voting turnout than other seats.
Besides, areas with high Muslim concentrations have high voting turnout, as shown by data and by different visual media. If we consider State-wise voting then Muslim dominated Lok Sabha seats have more voting then that of the others. In Bihar in 2019, the top seats with the highest voting per cent in descending voting percentage were Katihar, Kishanganj , Supaul, Purnia and Araria seats. In 2014 LS poll in Bihar Katihar, Kishanganj, Purnia, Supaul were the highest voting percent among all the seats in State. In Uttar Pradesh in 2019 LS poll Amroha LS seat has highest voting percent. In 2019 LS poll in descending order of voting the seats were as Amroha, Saharanpur,Muzaffarnagar, Jhansi, Kairana, Pilibhit, Bijnore, and Moradabad were the top seats in voting per cent. In 2014 in UP Saharanpur,Kairana, Amroha, and Muzaffarnagar were the seats where voting per cent was highest in order among all the seats.
It is clear that Muslim dominated Lok Sabha seats have a higher voting per cent than others. Muslims are more interested in voting than others.
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