The Maharashtra State Election Commission, which has launched several initiatives to encourage inert voters, has similar concerns As the high voltage campaign for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation election ends on Sunday, the million dollar question for political parties and 2,000 plus contestants is whether voters buck the trend of previous elections and come out in large numbers to use their franchise on February 21. The Maharashtra State Election Commission, which has launched several initiatives to encourage inert voters, has similar concerns. This is despite the fact that voters in the recently concluded municipal council elections and the first phase of Zilla Parishad polls have seen higher turnout in the range of 65-75 per cent. While statistics say the voting percentage in the commercial capital during civic polls has been between 42-49 per cent since 1992, the voter turnout in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls has also been dismal. Many voters stay away from corporation elections even as BMC's policies have a big impact on daily life. They don't even bother that they suffer despite BMC's annual budget of Rs 37,000 crore, making it the richest civic body in India. Several theories have been proposed in the past to justify the poor voter turnout. These range from alienation of the elite from the democratic process to the disinterested urban middle class which finds little reason to vote. Most youngsters DNA spoke to don't know their ward number or name of the corporator. However, most of them knew their MLA and MP. Besides, many of them didn't know about the corporators job and believe civic issues in Mumbai are so grave that they can't be resolved irrespective of the party who comes to power. Observers say a general alienation of youngsters from democracy at the grassroot level is a cause for concern. They blame political parties for this situation. "Most candidates fielded by political parties in the civic polls are local, and have close ties with local builders and goons. They fail to instil trust in the voters and hence, people keep away from voting process," says Pratibha Thakur, a banker from Andheri. Deepak Pawar, professor of politics, Mumbai University, however, blame the citizens. "The urban middle class seems to have a split personality. They blame politicians for every civic problem but they never cast their vote in the civic elections." Nevertheless, political parties expect a higher turnout this time. Madhav Bhandari, BJP spokesperson says, "Since the fight is five to six corner, all parties try their best to get their voters to polling booths. This will result in higher turnout." The issue of corruption and mud-slinging between two major players — BJP and Shiv Sena — may negatively effect the polling percentage, says Milind Ballal, a senior journalist. Increase in voting percentage will help BJP score better than the Shiv Sena, say observers.

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