Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: Bandra Citizens And Activists Rally To Boost Voter Turnout After Dismal 2019 Participation

Vandre West assembly constituency which recorded one of the lowest voter turnout in the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections, is eager to increase their voter turnout in the upcoming assembly elections as the citizens have taken up the cause in their hands. Various citizens’ groups, individuals and activists have launched initiatives to get more eligible people enrolled in the voters’ list and motivate them to step out on November 20 and cast their vote.

In the 2019 assembly elections, while Mumbai recorded only 50.51% voter turnout, constituencies in South Mumbai and some of the western suburbs recorded the lowest turnout. Vandre West recorded only 1.30 Lakh votes which were only 44% of the total 2.97 Lakh electors in the constituency. Bandra (W) was one of the five constituencies with the lowest voter turnout in the city.

However, prior to the 2024 Vidhan Sabha polls that are scheduled to be held on November 20, the election commission has started its drill to increase the number of voters and allow people to check their names in the voters’ list. Different teams of the election commission have been visiting churches like Mount Carmel and St. Peter’s where they set up a help desk mostly during the mass prayers. People can visit them to check their name in the list and can even get their name added to the list. Similar help desks have also been set up at community places including the D’monte Park gymkhana.

On the same note, the citizens of Bandra have also decided to increase the voter turnout and have launched various initiatives to fuel the cause. AGNI, a citizens’ group is circulating videos, including one with Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah, asking people to step out of their homes and vote for open spaces, green covers, good roads, healthcare and an excellent education system.

After a lot of residents missed their chance to vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as they found their names missing from the voters list after reaching the polling booth, a group of citizens have started a Whatsapp group to educate people about the process of getting themselves enrolled in the voters list.

Mario Fishery, one of the admins of the group and a resident of Bandra (W), said, “Election commission had carried out a door-to-door survey and they cancelled out the names of voters who were not available at the time of survey. This led to a lot of people missing out on their cance to vote. We are helping all those people to get themselves enrolled through our Whatsapp group. However, students who have recently turned 18 are not being allowed to vote even though they have reached the permissible age of voting.”

Similarly, the Bombay Catholic Sabha started an initiative of door knocking in Bandra (W) where volunteers visit door-to-door and ask people to cast their vote. The initiative has turned into a large citizens’ movement where people from different communities are joining and pressing residents to step out and vote.

Lillian Pais, a citizen of Bandra who is a part of the initiative, said, “A lot of senior citizens missed the deadline of vote from home. Luckily the election commission enrolled those who had opted for the scheme in Lok Sabha elections. We are now trying to arrange for other senior citizens to be transported to the polling booth. We don’t know if we will succeed in increasing the voter turnout this time but we are trying our best.”

The Mumbai North Central District Forum, a citizen welfare and redressal forum, has been working to increase the voter turnout across Mumbai with a special focus on Bandra (W). The citizens’ group has asked all its members to assist voters with any kind of helf on the voting day including transportation to senior citizens and water, glucose and first-aid for booths with long queues. The youth members of the forum will visit door-to-door on the polling day and ask people to vote.

Advocate Trivankumar Karnani, founder of MNCDF, said, “Our flying squad and collective network members spread across MMR will aid and assist any kind of citizen help that is required on the day of election. Whether it is voter card issue, electoral roll, travelling and transport or senior citizens’ help, we are ready to do it all. Our idea and vision is that we want to increase Mumbai’s voter turnout this year and for that we will do whatever it takes to.”