As the voting percentages dropped drastically in the first couple of phases of the ongoing general elections, observers and analysts spoke of ‘voter apathy’ blamed it on a lack of “wave” this time – apart from the heatwave, that is. The latest figures after the fourth phase, however, shows there is not much of a fall from the 2019 figures.

The final figure for the fourth phase of polling held in 69 constituencies on May 13 turns out to be 69.16% – in fact, slightly higher than the 68.80 percent the same seats registered last time. Male Turnout was 69.58%, Female turnout 68.73% and third gender turnout 34.23%, according to an Election Commission of India (ECI) statement on Friday.

For the four phases cumulatively, the voter turnout at polling stations has been about 66.95% so far, as approximately 451 million people have exercised their franchise, the ECI said.

ECI has enhanced its targeted interventions to reach out to every eligible voter. The Commission led by CEC Rajiv Kumar along with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu have directed CEOs of the states going to poll in the remaining phases to distribute voter information slips in time to all electors and enhance outreach activities.

“Commission strongly believes that partnership and collaboration are essential pillars of voter awareness programme. It's really heartening to see that on Commission's request, different institutions, influencers and celebrities having significant reach are working enthusiastically on pro-bono basis,” said Rajiv Kumar.

Further, he added, a high voter turnout, would be a message from Indian voters to the world, about the strength of Indian Democracy. He urges all the voters to cast their vote in huge numbers, as voting day in not a holiday but a day of pride, by participating in the festival of democracy.

State-wise and constituency-wise voter turnout data for Phase 4 is given at Table 1 and 2, respectively here: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2020899

In the next phase, 49 constituencies will go to polls on May 20. (For more information, see Table 3 after following the link above.)