Lucknow: Voting is going on in the capital of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, under the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections. Long queues of voters were seen outside the polling booths in the district since 7 am. Special vigilance was maintained at all the VIP polling booths in Lucknow. Central Defence Minister and BJP candidate from Lucknow Lok Sabha seat Rajnath Singh, former Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati, former Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, Deputy Chief Minister of the state government Brajesh Pathak and various VIP voters reached the polling booth with their families and cast their votes. All these leaders have also appealed to the voters to reach the polling booth in maximum numbers and vote.
Enthusiasm among voters
Elections have been held on the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat in the capital of Uttar Pradesh since 1951. The people here were not that enthusiastic about voting in the initial phase, but record voting took place in Lucknow in the 1962 Lok Sabha elections. In Lucknow, 58.49 percent people voted in 1962. This record has not been broken by the voters of Lucknow so far, but the Election Commission estimates that this time around 70 percent voting will take place in Lucknow. Since this morning, a lot of enthusiasm has been seen among the voters during voting, especially the youth are very conscious about voting. Everyone has their own issues in the election, for which people are voting.
Target of 70 percent voting
If we look at the figures, the lowest voting of 33.23 percent was recorded in Lucknow in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. In 1991, Atal Bihari Vajpayee won as a BJP candidate. After seeing such a low voting percentage for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat, Atal ji himself gave the slogan of “First vote, then refreshment” and appealed to people to increase the voting percentage by going door to door. There have been many changes in the people of Lucknow with time and year after year, a partial increase in the voting percentage is being seen, but even now the voters here have not been able to touch the figure of 60 percent. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 53.06 percent voting took place. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the voting percentage increased to 57.68, but could not break the record of 1962. This time the administration in Lucknow has set a target of 70 percent voting.
The government machinery here, leaders of various political parties, social workers, private organizations have tried to increase the voting percentage through awareness programs. To take the voters to the booth, teams are going door to door and motivating people to vote. In order to ensure that the voters do not face any inconvenience in coming and going to the polling booth, arrangements have been made for the voters to come and go by auto in collaboration with the auto driver union. The fare for this is pre-determined. Apart from this, people will be called to the booth by phone and message. Not only this, the first person to vote will also be honored by the administration.
