GUWAHATI: High cost of commuting to the polling stations and lack of facilities for the elderly and specially-abled kept many voters away from casting their votes in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) election on Friday.
Polling began at 7.30 am but the turnout was very disappointing. The familiar long queues and happy faces of voters flaunting their inked fingers were missing at some of the booths that TOI visited. “The elderly may not have come to vote because of lack of wheelchairs and attendants at the booths to help them,” said a block level officer at a polling booth.
The officer added that high transportation cost can also be a factor for the low turnout. “Voters from around this area have to spend Rs 40 to come to vote and spend Rs 40 again to return home. They are lower middle class people like auto rickshaw drivers, traders and cab drivers. For them spending Rs 80 for each member of the family would be a costly affair. This could be a possible reason,” the officer said.
No drinking water facility was provided to some of the polling booths. At a polling booth in the Kharghuli area, a water tank was provided by the administration, but there was no water in the tank. The entire day the water tank remained empty.
“The district administration should have provided drinking water. It was a warm and sunny day and voters asked for water. What can we do? Election officials get funds for refreshment during election duty,” an official said. A few voters, who did not want to be named, said people were most likely fed up with the leadership of political parties and so stayed away. The drinking water crisis has been on for ages and no government has done anything to address it. “There are a few other perennial issues like the artificial floods after every spell of rain. These might have been the reasons behind the low turnout,” said a resident of Kharghuli.
