To Boost Voter Turnout, Madhya Pradesh Poll Body Plans CoWIN-Like App

To increase voter turnout, the Chief Electoral Officer's office in Madhya Pradesh is developing a CoWIN-like app for urban voters in select polling booths to book voting slots in advance. Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh are expected to be held around the end of the year. 

If implemented, the app will allow voters in select polling booths of urban constituencies - especially those with a historically low voter turnout - to book voting slots in advance, similar to the advance registration of vaccination slots in the CoWIN app. 

Anupam Rajan, Chief Electoral Officer, Madhya Pradesh, said "A detailed analysis of voting percentages in the 2018 assembly polls indicates that voters in many predominantly urban assembly segments are less active in exercising their franchise compared to the electorate in largely rural and semi-urban seats."

"Therefore, we are working on an app that will enable voters in select polling booths of certain urban assembly constituencies to book their voting slots in advance and arrive at the designated time slot to cast their votes. Once the app is developed, we will focus on implementing other necessary procedures," he added. 

Mr Rajan said that if the system proves effective, it will reduce waiting times at polling booths, benefiting voters such as housewives, the elderly, and single parents with young children who cannot spend extended periods away from home.

An analysis of the 2018 assembly elections reveals that among the ten assembly constituencies with the lowest voter turnout, five are predominantly urban. These include Gwalior-East (58.18% voter turnout), Gwalior-South (60.45%), Govindpura-Bhopal (61.19%), Bhopal Madhya (59.55%), and Bhind (58.70%).

The ten assembly seats with the highest polling percentages were predominantly rural.

Among the seats which saw low voter turnout, the Bhopal Madhya constituency consists of numerous residential localities, including homes of top bureaucrats. The Govindpura seat in Bhopal also has new and developing residential townships. Affluent areas of Gwalior city come under the Gwalior East constituency and the Gwalior-South seat is predominantly urban as well.