BHUBANESWAR: An extended poll schedule and intense campaigns by both
BJP and BJD
seems to have failed to prod people of
Odisha to get out and vote.
This is borne out by the fact that the turnout this time will be only very slightly different from that registered five years ago. With little difference in the turnout figures of 2014 and this year, predicting the results of an already tight battle has become even more difficult.
The state had registered a voting percentage of 73.5 in the simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in 2014.
The final figures for the fourth and last phase of polling on Monday are yet to come in but, taking into account an estimated turnout, the state’s average polling percentage this time is 72.7, marginally less than the figure recorded last time. “Given the extended poll season and the way the elections occupied national consciousness, we expected the voting percentage to go up significantly. That doesn’t seem to have happened,” said Ranjan Mohanty, state coordinator of Association for Democratic Reforms.
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