BENGALURU: Karnataka, which at 70.6% recorded its best-ever voter turnout in the Lok Sabha elections, beating the previous record of 68.8% in 2019, has emerged the frontrunner in increased voter participation compared to five years ago. An analysis by SBI Research shows that of the first four phases, Karnataka accounted for the highest rise in absolute number of voters at 35.5 lakh (over 3.5 million).
This surge represents a remarkable 10.1% jump over the state’s voter turnout in the previous general elections when more than 3.5 crore voters exercised their franchise compared to more than 3.8 crore in 2024. Manoj Kumar Meena, Karnataka’s chief electoral officer (CEO) told TOI: “For this election, we improved the integrity of the rolls considerably. Efforts to enrol every eligible person shows in the overall (gender) ratio, improvement even among young voters, and the total electorate. But credit is due to the people of Karnataka who turned out in large numbers and voted.
We had set a turnout target of 70% and we breached that.” The SBI report states that, so far, there has been a 6% increase in absolute number of voter turnout in the first four phases with Karnataka (35.5 lakh), Telangana (31.9 lakh) and Maharashtra (20 lakh) leading the increase while Kerala accounts for the largest decline (5.3 lakh), followed by Manipur (3.4 lakh). A national constituencywise analysis of absolute number of voters reveals either an increase or status quo in around 90% of the seats polled, relative to 2019.
“The absolute increase in casting of votes jumped by more than 50,000 in 181 constituencies (48.5%), whereas 156 constituencies (42%) exhibited a near status quo (change in votes between -50,000 to +50,000) and only in 36 constituencies, absolute voters declined by more than 50,000 votes,” the report reads.
The net incremental share of women voters comes to 93.6 lakh, way above 84.7 lakh increase in men. “...This hints at the cementing of women as the new centre of gravity for Indian politics. 270 constituencies (of 373) witnessed increased participation from 1.2 crore women,” the report states.
That is, for every 100 incremental male voters there are 110 incremental female voters voting at any point of time in the first four phases. Also, the increase in absolute votes per constituency in reserved seats continues the lead over general category constituencies, hinting at strengthened roots of participative democracy being all pervasive.
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