People in Delhi-NCR are the least likely to cast votes every election – this is the finding of the Inshorts Pulse of The Nation survey conducted in the national capital and five major cities of the country.

According to the survey, which saw the participation of over 2 lakh subscribers of the popular news application, 51 per cent of voters residing in Delhi-NCR will not be going back to their hometowns to cast their votes in the Lok Sabha elections 2019.

At the same time, 47 per cent responders in Mumbai and 45 per cent in Pune won’t leave the city to cast their votes. All three cities are home to a large migrant population comprising students and workers.

Other findings of the survey reveal that, at 62 per cent, voters in Delhi are the least likely to cast their votes. Yet 85 per cent Indian voters said that they want voting to be made compulsory.

“It is interesting to see that while 85 per cent Indian voters said that voting should be made compulsory but only 63 per cent cast their votes every time without fail,” the surveyors observed.

Reflecting the growing acceptance of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), 76 per cent of the survey respondents said that they were in favour of it. However, 24 per cent still expressed their doubts on the machine’s authenticity.

Over 46 per cent Indian voters think that option of NOTA (None of The Above) fails to bring out the purpose of voting.

Three cities – Hyderabad (77 per cent), Pune (75 per cent) and Bangalore (75 per cent) – have the highest number of voters who do proper research on their candidate before voting. The average was 74 per cent.

The survey also brought to the fore the concern of lost votes, which has been an issue in every election.

It is noteworthy that the 2014 Lok Sabha elections saw the highest number of voter turnout at 66.38 per cent but the percentage also reflected that there were still around 24 per cent who did not or could not vote.

Commenting on the Survey, Azhar Iqbal, CEO, Inshorts said, “The upcoming Lok Sabha elections have created a euphoria amongst urban Indian millennials. Gone are the days when casting votes was considered a burden, the overwhelming response of the survey throws light on how the perceptions about elections have changed. Nowadays, people are aware about their rights and consider casting votes, a responsibility as citizens.”

The responders to the survey represented urban millennials, aged between 18 and 35 years, from Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai.