Ahmedabad, 30 April, 2014

Gujarat has witnessed around 60-65% more voting on 26 Lok Sabha and 7 assembly(by-polls) seats today. Exact figures will be out anytime late in the evenin. Final figures could be out late in the night or tomorrow.

To understand today’s possible figure of turnout, please have a look at turnout of some of the recent Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat.

1996–35.92%
1999–47.03%
2004–45.60%
2009–47.92%

About 10-15% addition in turnout in today’s elections is due to:

-Added two hours. While in past elections polling hours were 8.00am-5.00 pm, today’s polling took place during 7.00am-6.00 pm. If you open your store for more hours, you get more income.

-More exposure about politics among people due to growing number of news channels including regional news channels, newspapers and online platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

-Son of soil as front runner for nation’s top job. A wave around him. Party organizations on ground at work.

-Youth oriented awareness campaign by Election Commission and various organizations.

-Hope factor associated with dream of new government.

It is generally seen that higher turnout helps BJP. Today’s turnout suggests that BJP should get any number of seats above 20. More can be said after getting micro-details of voting. Some say it is not necessary that higher turnout may help BJP only. Common sense suggests that there’s no reason why Congress should get additional votes. Anti incumbency against UPA-3 is very high.