Why Aren’t Urban Residents Voting? Demystifying Urban Apathy and Why Urban Polling Stations Are Empty

Why Aren’t Urban Residents Voting? Demystifying Urban Apathy and Why Urban Polling Stations Are Empty

Urban voter apathy stands as a central issue pertinent to India, specifically in major cities, which have displayed a deteriorating rate of voter turnout in successive elections. This problem is not specific just to India; as it was also reported in highly developed economies and Europe, which shows the tendency of disengagement from the electoral process among urban voters on a global level.

A 2019 report by the Indian Election Commission revealed a staggering fact: Among the 50 Lok Sabha constituencies with the highest voter turnouts, 17 were located in metropolitan areas. The lowest turnout was in south Delhi in Kasturba Nagar assembly constituency where only 33.7 percent of voters voted. The same is conveyed through the 2012 municipal elections, where the voter turnout in Mumbai and Thane could not exceed 45%.

It is in a way similar in the United States as a 2020 Pew Research Center report highlights one uniform pattern: the presence of an urban-rural gap in the voter turnout as per the rural areas with greater number of people turning out to vote in the elections. Such imbalance endangers the fairness of an election by giving the edge, or possibly even the outright victory, to ideologies associated with predominantly rural populations.

What Causes Urban Apathy in Modern Cities?

The variety of factors why the urban voters turned away is too many to count. There has been a situation of growing political polarization, dirty campaigning and the assumption that the disinterested politicians towards the every-day problems may cause apathy among urban voters. The 2022 Deccan Herald study of India showed a lack of trust in politicians among the voters to the point where they believe their vote will be wasted.

The size of urban life can manifest many people with the feeling of loss of power or anonymity. Voters in big cities may wonder whether their only way to change a situation is to move out of the city. This indifference to local political issues makes participation impossible.

Urban life usually demands a very fast pace of life and long commutes. The busy work schedules and the limited number of voting hours may contribute to a problem of not being able to find even a little time to vote. Moreover, registration of voters along with the complex processes or lack of awareness about polling booth locations also limit the number of people who would likely vote.

Despite the fact that the cities are mostly associated with economic prosperity, cities still have many socio-economic problems. Workers, especially those in the informal sector, can be under pressure from loss of a day’s wages or being unable to vote might interfere with their contribution in the voting process.

Urbanisation mostly contains an economic development tendency that does not pay much attention to building community and making people involved in the governance process. The apolitical surroundings hinder local community members from participating in democratic discussions.

The Election Commission has taken many steps to tackle the problem of urban voter apathy, such as engaging with students through programs that differ from universities to high schools. Nevertheless, addressing the root causes of the problem is vital to achieve the intended outcome.

The Impacts of Urban Apathy on Democracy

Urban voter apathy creates separation within the community and lowers the amount of participation in civic and political activities. It culminates in a voter base without real options and undermining the importance of democracy as well as corruptions in public life, non-fulfilment of promises, scandals, immorality, sceptic attitudes, electoral problems and in general distrust of political parties and ideas.

Lower Voter Turnout

The urban voter apathy contributes to a general absence of interest and awareness about the political process and the political system, thus donating an additional incentive to this problem. It can be commonly attributed to the mistakes of electoral lists, the fake voter, a low level of political awareness, lack of concern, lack of attitude, and apathy towards politicians as they think they are not efficient enough.

Weakened Democracy

The consequences of urban voter apathy are not only associated with individual elections but also its consequences reach far into the long term implications on democracy.  It results in an unrepresentative body with no accountability, creating a division from the citizens they are meant to serve by the elected leaders. Such a gap will result in the decline of trust in the political system, and the same will only add to the problem of urban voter apathy.

Erosion of Public Trust

Urban voter apathy creates problems in the democracy, particularly, absence of representation, accountability, disconnection between the elected officials and citizens, and mistrust in the political system. To solve the problem of urban voter apathy and active participation of the voters in the electoral process, it is necessary to address the reasons for this problem and to take action to engage and motivate urban voters. This necessitates a united effort of the politicians, community leaders, educators, and most importantly, the voters.

Viewpoint

The city informal sector needs to be more proactively involved as the city is currently running more informally than through most formal institutions. A huge push is necessitated to enable this sector to participate, involving the participation of workers and the unions in the awareness program.

Moreover, students are the major positions where greater participation can be enhanced. College and university elections should be held on campus for maintaining a healthy political environment. The Lyngdoh Committee recommendations do exist, but in reality, these are hardly followed because of the apolitical attitude on the campuses due to the general apolitical environment.

Another major factor is the inclusion of urban local bodies, which is a crucial aspect that should be taken into consideration. There is a need for permanent interaction with these bodies in order to determine rise in participation and politicization. 

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has prepared its latest SVEEP voter awareness campaign for the same purpose, which will reach young voters in educational institutions along with the ones from the corporate offices across the country.

To solve the problem of the apathy of urban voters, there is a need for a multifaceted approach that includes collaboration with various local authorities, and the informal sector, students and other sectors of society from time to time. Instead of only focusing on symptoms, taking the appropriate measures will necessarily trigger larger scale participation and voter’s politicization in urban areas.