The Election Commission of India has identified around 5,000 polling booths in Assam where voter turnout was up to 15 per cent below the state average during the last polls, Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Chandra Sahu said Friday.
Addressing a press conference here, Sahu said that the Election Commission is sensitizing voters in these places via mock polling teams ahead of the general elections.
In the 2016 Assembly polls, the voter turnout in Assam was 84.72 per cent.
He said that there were two main reasons for the lower voter turnout in these polling booths.
"The first reason was an apathy towards election. Voters thought what would change if they vote. This was prevalent in both urban and rural areas. The second was a hesitation for voting among the new voters, who thought of voting the next time," Sahu said.
A detailed report was prepared in this connection and sent to the Election Commission of India, he added.
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"We found that out of over 26,000 polling booths, voter percentage was lesser by 15 per cent than the state average in around 1,000 booths. While it was 10 per cent in around 3,000-4,000 booths," Sahu said.
He said that the Election Commission's mock polling teams have visited these places and tried to make people aware of taking part in voting, while campaigns like street plays, jingles and other methods have been employed.
Assam's total number of voters stood at 2,17,60,604 as per the latest revision and it is being updated on a daily basis on receipt of complaints from the public.
"We also have about 1.2 lakh 'D' voters (doubtful voters) in the electoral roll. It came down from 1.25 lakh in the last revision. This figure is also being updated regularly," he added.
The CEO said that the Election Commission has exempted a few state government officials, including a few additional deputy commissioners, who are engaged in the update process of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), from election related duties.
On account of the International Women's Day, Sahu on Friday announced an initiative to sensitise women voters.