The excuses people made for not voting...

...Maybe, politicos know better


Non-Kannadigas didn’t vote!

The non-Kannadiga population in Bengaluru is around 60% but a majority of this segment chose not to vote. The low voter turnout can be attributed to the conscious decision taken by these non-Kannadigas to keep themselves away from the BBMP polls. These non-Kannadigas want all facilities but they do not want to vote. In fact, the same had happened in the previous BBMP polls.

— HD Kumaraswamy, former chief minister (JDS )


Oh...it happened to be a Saturday!

This is precisely what happened in 2010 too. We expected the turnout to be good given the fact there was a high-decibel awareness campaign and RWAs too were vocal. But I guess the timing — Saturday — was the spoiler. While a lot of people from the lower economic strata such daily wagers, maids and factory workers turned out to exercise their franchise, a majority of working professionals preferred to enjoy their holiday instead of coming to the polling booth. Maybe the polling should have been held on Sundays as people would have stepped out of their houses (beating the weekend feeling) at least by the evening and come to vote.”

— R Ramalinga Reddy (Congress) Bangalore district in-charge minister

Voting should have been made mandatory

It was indeed a disappointing show by the Bengaluru yet again. We had hopes that this time the turnout will be more. The SEC should not have had polling on Saturday as people in Bengaluru are known to move out of the city during weekends. Polling should have been held on a weekday. Adding to woes, the rains too played spoilsport as many chose to remain indoors! It is evident that people have lost interest in politics and the system. In fact, as far as our observation goes only the old pockets of the city has turned up in large numbers. The outskirts areas, apartment dwellers have hardly turned up for voting. Due to this kind of trend, the candidates will only serve those who have voted them and address problems of those communities and consolidate their vote banks; the rest will remain neglected. That should not happen. The government must wake up and make voting mandatory. Even officials and politicians should cultivate a practise of respecting only those who vote.

— R Ashoka, former deputy CM (BJP)

Parties also to blame for the state of affairs

Bengaluru voters might not have found any important issue that could have made them to come to vote. While the last parliament elections was charged up with the Modi factor (the slogan was “vote for Modi, vote for change”) there was nothing catchy for the BBMP polls. Maybe, the residents are so tired of seeing BBMP administration’s failure in solving their problems that they decided it was pointless to vote. This apart, Saturday was a disincentive for polling. A day before (on Friday) almost half of the techies have left city. The political parties are also to blame for failing to attract voters either through their manifesto or campaign so that more number of voters could have exercised their rights.

— Suresh Kumar (BJP), former minister