Current Affairs : Elections : Voter Turnout
How many voters?
To see how many people were on the electoral rolls the last general elections in India, per state, men and women please see : http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/eroll&epic/ERoll2008.pdf
The grand total of registered voters is 70,578,8184. That is about 71 crores. Indian population is about 120 crores.
This site gives the voter turnout percentages over the years in India : http://www.idea.int/vt/country_view.cfm?CountryCode=IN. The table is reproduced below.
How many voted?
Approximately 41 crore people voted in the last elections.
About 1.3 crore people have so far expressed their support for India Against Corruption. When I checked with an muslim autodriver, he said that they believed that Gandhiji’s atma was now blended with Annaji’s and that they prayed for him in the mosque. He thought 75% of the country supported Annaji. He did not know about this missed call program. He asked me for it, but I did not have the number with me at that time.
Why is there a low voter turn out?
Wikipedia says that voter turn-out has been decreasing in democracies : : see image:: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/Turnout.png
It says that “Trust in government and in politicians has decreased in many nations.” : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout
It says : “Rosenstone and Hansen contend that the decline in turnout is the product of a change in campaigning strategies as a result of the so-called new media. Before the introduction of television, almost all of a party’s resources would be directed towards intensive local campaigning and get out the vote initiatives. In the modern era, these resources have been redirected to expensive media campaigns in which the potential voter is a passive participant.[60] During the same period, negative campaigning has become ubiquitous in the United States and elsewhere. Attack ads and smear campaigns give voters a negative impression of the entire political process. The evidence for this is mixed: elections involving highly unpopular incumbents generally have high turnout; some studies have found that mudslinging and character attacks reduce turnout, but that substantive attacks on a party’s record can increase it.[61]“
Parliamentary Voter Turn out Table :
| Year | Voter Turn-out | Total vote | Regi-stration | VAP Turn-out | Voting age popu-lation | Invalid votes | Popu-lation | First time voters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 |
58.19%
|
417,236,311
|
716,985,101
|
56.48%
|
738,773,666
|
0.05%
|
1,156,897,766
|
|
| 2004 |
57.75%
|
387,779,787
|
671,524,934
|
60.57%
|
640,182,791
|
0.10%
|
1,049,700,118
|
|
| 1999 |
59.73%
|
370,579,735
|
620,394,065
|
65.50%
|
565,780,483
|
986,856,301
|
||
| 1998 |
62.04%
|
373,678,215
|
602,340,382
|
67.13%
|
556,651,400
|
1.90%
|
970,933,000
|
|
| 1996 |
57.94%
|
343,308,035
|
592,572,288
|
61.08%
|
562,028,100
|
2.50%
|
952,590,000
|
|
| 1991 |
56.73%
|
282,700,000
|
498,363,801
|
57.23%
|
493,963,380
|
851,661,000
|
||
| 1989 |
58.23%
|
290,366,661
|
498,647,786
|
61.24%
|
474,143,040
|
817,488,000
|
40.60%
|
|
| 1984 |
63.53%
|
240,846,499
|
379,116,623
|
64.51%
|
373,371,000
|
2.50%
|
746,742,000
|
49.10%
|
| 1980 |
56.85%
|
201,269,129
|
354,024,081
|
61.90%
|
325,162,040
|
2.40%
|
663,596,000
|
42.70%
|
| 1977 |
60.48%
|
193,953,183
|
320,682,598
|
64.57%
|
300,392,640
|
2.80%
|
625,818,000
|
43.20%
|
| 1971 |
55.25%
|
151,296,749
|
273,832,301
|
57.22%
|
264,393,600
|
3.20%
|
550,820,000
|
43.70%
|
| 1967 |
60.95%
|
152,730,000
|
250,600,000
|
63.11%
|
241,996,800
|
504,160,000
|
40.70%
|
|
| 1962 |
55.09%
|
119,910,000
|
217,680,000
|
54.42%
|
220,324,090
|
449,641,000
|
44.70%
|
|
| 1957 |
63.75%
|
123,460,000
|
193,650,000
|
62.64%
|
197,090,250
|
402,225,000
|
47.80%
|
|
| 1952 |
61.16%
|
105,940,000
|
173,210,000
|
58.91%
|
179,830,000
|
367,000,000
|
45%
|
Satya
