Here's how Bhopal voters got diamond rings for voting on poll day

In an innovative move to boost voter turnout, the Bhopal administration organised a lottery scheme rewarding voters with diamond rings for casting their votes on polling day

In an innovative effort to boost voter turnout, the Bhopal administration launched a lottery scheme offering attractive prizes. The first draw took place at 11 am on Tuesday at the Char Imli booth, where Yaggoj Sahu won a diamond ring.

"This is a very innovative initiative by the Election Commission. It makes the voting process enjoyable and gives you a chance to win something big in the lucky draw. I never expected to win this much. In fact, I forgot I had participated in the draw. The first thing I did after waking up was to come to vote," Yaggoj Sahu told the Free Press Journal.

 

Along with Sahu, Premvati Kushwaha, Ayan Khan, and Chhaya Saini also won diamond rings at the Anand Vihar School, Hamidia College, and Chandbad Nagar Nigam Office polling booths, respectively.

This unique approach included two more draws at 2 pm and 5 pm, with a bumper draw scheduled for May 9. The scheme aimed to energise the electorate by incentivising voter participation.

"On polling day, we'll have three lucky draws at each polling booth: 10 am, 3 pm, and 6 pm. One winner will be chosen per draw to receive a prize. A day or two after the election, we'll hold a mega draw where big prizes will be distributed to the winners," said district election officer and collector Kaushlendra Vikram Singh to The Times of India.

The strategy was designed to tackle declining voter participation in Madhya Pradesh during the Lok Sabha election. The state saw an 8.5 per cent decline in voter turnout across the first two phases, and Bhopal has historically recorded low voter turnout.

Madhya Pradesh sees 66% turnout in third phase

Provisional voter turnout reached 66.12 per cent by 6 pm on Tuesday during the third phase of polling for nine Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh.

A poll official noted that no major incidents occurred across the nine constituencies, and voting was peaceful.

Voting began at 7 am across 20,456 polling stations, including 1,043 managed by women staff and 75 by differently-abled employees.

Betul constituency recorded a 69.68 per cent turnout, Bhind 52.91 per cent, Bhopal 60.99 per cent, Guna 69.34 per cent, Gwalior 58.86 per cent, Morena 55.77 per cent, Rajgarh 72.99 per cent, Sagar 62.06 per cent, and Vidisha 70.35 per cent.

Rajgarh recorded the highest turnout at 72.99 per cent, where Congress leader Digvijaya Singh faces incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Rodmal Nagar.

Meanwhile, Bhind had the lowest turnout at 52.91 per cent.