The weather has made things more difficult for the Election Commission ahead of the Rajasthan Lok Sabha polls. This time, the Commission has given instructions to create a backup plan for the polling days in order to protect voters from the heat due to the extreme heat and the possibility of temperatures reaching 44 degrees Celsius. A high voting percentage is also desirable. To give voters the best possible respite from the heat, the Commission has requested that the voting period be shortened and that desert coolers be installed. Additionally, all district election officers have been instructed to prepare for this.
The Central Election Commission made the decision to hold the state's elections before May due to the summertime weather in the area. However, in the districts of Rajasthan, the temperature is probably going to hit 44 degrees Celsius or higher in April. In addition, heat waves could strike a number of Western Rajasthani areas. The State Election Commission has directed all district election officers to prepare backup plans for their respective locations' elections in light of this potential.
In this Lok Sabha election, the State Election Commission hopes to surpass 75 percent of voters. The state's share of Lok Sabha votes has never reached 70% in any of the Lok Sabha elections that have been held yet. Voter turnout peaked in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Commissioner Praveen Gupta of the State Election Commission suggested that voters consider cutting down on the amount of time allotted for voting. He could vote as soon as he wanted to. The Commission is also thinking about this. In an effort to shorten the voting period, the Commission constructed 1370 observation booths this time. In order to complete the work as soon as possible, more staff members will also be assigned. This will shorten lines at booths where more voters are present. He stated that the maximum number of voters at a single polling place will be 1450. The people have been urged to come early in the morning to cast their votes by the Commission Commissioner.
Guidelines for preparing unique water and shade combinations
Commissioner Praveen Gupta of the State Election Commission recently called a meeting of all district election officers and gave them instructions to erect enough tents at every polling place to shield voters from the sun and heat, supply drinking water, and create waiting areas for senior voters. To prevent heat in these waiting rooms, arrangements for fans and water have been requested. He also mentioned that plans should ideally be made for water spray fans or desert coolers in areas experiencing intense heat.
Considering offering transportation services to help voters get there
In order to get voters from their houses to the polling places this time, the Commission is also thinking of launching a transportation system. The Commission is thinking of adding this feature to polling places in outlying areas (particularly in western Rajasthan). in order to ensure that voters have no trouble getting to the polls in the afternoon.
Four times out of 17, fewer than half the electorate cast ballots.
There have been 17 Lok Sabha elections between 1952 and 2019, if we look at the voting percentage up to this point. Of these, four times more voters than half did not make it to the polls because of the heat. Nineteen years of the twenty-first century had fewer than fifty percent of the vote cast. Simultaneously, the vote percentage fell below 60% nine times. The voting percentage in the Lok Sabha elections of 1998, 2014, and 2019 varied between sixty and sixty-six percent. In the Lok Sabha elections of 2019, the greatest turnout was 66.34 percent, while the lowest was 43.40 percent in 1996.
