Among the lakhs of voters in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Abhik Arya, who works in Germany, made it to Noida in time to cast his vote for the Lok Sabha election on Friday.
Arya, who has been living in Munich for the last seven years and works in the hospitality sector there, said he has returned home after almost 18 months and deliberately planned the trip to coincide with the election date.
A voter of Noida’s Sector 31, Arya and his sisters Abhisha (33) and Ankita (35) cast their votes at the Saraswati Balika Vidya Mandir on Friday afternoon.
“I have been living in Germany for work for the last seven years. I landed in Delhi around 7 am. When I was planning my vacation and travel home in India, I knew the elections were also around the corner so I had planned my schedule accordingly,” Arya told PTI.
“I came home today and coordinated with my sisters so that we do not miss out on voting as a responsible citizen and to keep up the positive trend and to do our bit,” Arya said.
He said he hoped that his story would encourage others to participate in the electoral process.
Abhisha, who works in the financial sector, said she was a first-time voter and the overall development of the country was among the key issues for her.
Ankita, who is self-employed, said the lack of employment opportunities in the country concerned her.
Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha constituency is spread across assembly segments of Noida, Dadri, Jewar, Khurja and Sikandrabad. Of these, Sikandrabad and Khujra geographically fall in the adjoining Bulandshahr district but are part of the Gautam Buddh Nagar constituency.
Gautam Buddh Nagar has a total of 26,75,148 voters across the five assembly segments, including 14,50,795 males, 12,22,234 females and 119 third-gender.
Assembly area-wise, there are 7,82,872 voters in Noida, 7,29,481 in Dadri, 3,69,824 in Jewar, 3,99,091 in Khurja and 3,93,880 in Sikandrabad, official data showed.
The constituency has recorded low voter turnouts of 60.47 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, 60.38 per cent in 2014 and an abysmal 48 per cent in 2009, according to Election Commission data.
The constituency has consistently recorded voter turnout lower than the national average of 67.40 per cent in 2019, 66 per cent in 2014 and 58 per cent in 2009, the data showed.
According to official figures, the voter turnout in the constituency was recorded at 51.60 per cent till 5 pm while in the Noida segment, it was 45.69 per cent.
