Landslides' shadow lingers: Sharp decline in Wayanad voter turnout

The Wayanad Lok Sabha byelection on Tuesday saw a sharp decline in voter turnout, said to be mainly because of the July 30 landslides that left more than 231 people dead, scores of people missing, and caused an economic loss of over a thousand crore rupees. 

The voter turnout was  64.24 percent, according to the  Election Commission. This was the lowest polling percentage recorded in the constituency since its formation in 2009.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made her electoral debut from the constituency,  previously represented by her brother Rahul Gandhi. Rahul won Wayanad in the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with thumping margins. Rahul, however, decided to vacate Wayanad and retain Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, which he o won in the 2024 general elections along with Wayanad.

Voter turnout far below previous elections

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Wayanad recorded a 72.92 percent voter turnout. In 2019, the seat saw an 80.33 percent turnout. Rahul Gandhi contested from Wayanad for the first time in 2019 and won.

In 2014, the seat recorded 73.25 percent voter turnout, while in 2009, when the first Lok Sabha election was held from the seat, the voter turnout was 74.76 percent.

Rahul Gandhi won Wayanad with a victory margin of 3.5 lakh votes in 2024. In 2019, the margin was over 4.3 lakh votes. Rahul also campaigned for her sister in the Wayanad by-poll.

Priyanka's promise

After the polling was over on Tuesday, Priyanka thanked people for exercising their franchise and said they were an inspiration for her to work even harder as well as keep fighting for the ideals the nation was built on.

"To the people of Wayanad who have given me their love and welcomed me with open arms, a big huge thank you for coming out in all your strength and exercising your democratic right," she said in a post on X.

Voting was held in Wayanad a little over 100 days after the hill district witnessed a landslide that killed at least  231 persons and left dozens missing. The administration had set up polling booths for the survivors from the affected villages of Mundakkai, Chooralmala, and Attamala during voting on Wednesday.

(By arrangement with livemint.com)