Awareness drive in Dhubri & Gauripur to turn tide on low urban voter turnout

Dhubri: Historically, low turnout of voters at the booths of Dhubri and Gauripur towns has remained hurdle in the democratic process.A big chunk of voters living in these urban areas treat polling day as a holiday and skip the voting process.To change the existing scenerio and increase the voting percentage, Nrityangan, a socio-cultural organisation of Dhubri, is leading an awareness campaign on the importance of voting among the residents voters of Dhubri and Gauripur.The organisation has printed pamphlets with information on the importance of voting. Members are going door to door and encouraging voters to turn up at the polling booths to exercise their democratic rights on the polling day.

Convener of the awareness campaign, Dipankar Majumder, told TOI that in 80s and 90s urban voting percentage was as low as 50-55 %, which has now increased to 60-65%. However, there is still a gap of 30% when compared to the usual 90-93% voter turnout in rural areas.“When it comes to average voting percentage in Dhubri and Gauripur LACs, it remains between 72-75%. If this gap continues, voters would loose faith in democracy.

However, first time voters seem enthusiastic about voting,” Majumder added.Samsul Islam (45), a voter from Dhubri’s Ward No. 4, said low voting percentage was due to lack of awareness among the voters about the importance of casting votes.Mazibur Rahman, a senior voter of Dharmasala village under Dhubri assembly constituency, when asked about the reasons behind high voter turnout in the rural area, said in minority dominated area, voters are highly motivated to exercise their franchise due to anxiety over citizenship status.