Even die-hard supporters of Opposition parties among immigrants in the Millennium city argue that the Modi government has done precious little for the common man but believe that the BJP-led alliance has a better chance of retaining power as compared to the INDIA bloc.

‘Aayega toh Modi hi”, says an auto driver, who is a staunch supporter of the Samajwadi Party.

Devendra Kumar hails from Saifai, a village which is connected to Mainpuri and Etawah by the four-lane State Highway 83 in Uttar Pradesh). ”I specially visited my village to vote for the ‘cycle’ (election symbol of SP),” he said.

He was all praise for the SP. He said since his early years, he and his family would approach the SP for whatever they needed and they would get help. He spoke highly of the clean roads, the infrastructure and the hospital — which have been constructed a long time back.

”Our hospitals have good doctors and we get appropriate treatment. Even Agra hospital is not that good,” he said. Saifai has a lot of agricultural land and no factories can be put up in that place, he said. For work opportunities, Devendra moved to the city to earn his living, he said. ”For any sort of personal needs and medical requirements, I will go to my village Saifai,” he said, adding that ”But, for the country, we need Prime MInister Narendra Modi.”

He said ”Modi ji has done a lot for the country but nothing for the common man”.

Sukhram Yadav, resident of Palwal in Haryana, who plies auto rickshaw in Gurugram, says he and his family of 25 people will vote for the Congress this time. He says he is not happy with the rising prices. ”We have voted for the BJP twice. This time, we are going to change our vote,” he said, lamenting that ”even the common salt is being taxed and commodities have become so pricey.” He said he will visit his home place, and cast his vote also.

A lot of people who have shifted to metros to earn their living, will be missing their votes.
Asif, another auto driver says he won’t be able to go to his home town in West Bengal. ”Money required to travel and additionally, I will lose my daily earnings,” he said. He supports TMC, he disclosed though.

Same is the story of Jollynoor, who works as household help while her husband works as a security guard. ”I won’t be able to vote. Lot of money is needed to travel and we will miss our earnings also,” she said.

There are almost 70 per cent immigrants who stay in Gurugram. Lots of people from the lower strata who have come from far-off places to earn their living. People, who have homes in nearby states, still can cast their votes but immigrants from distant states will miss their voting opportunity.

It seems like voting is also a luxury for the lower class immigrants, since money is required to travel to their hometowns to exercise their franchise.

A senior couple, who stay in Gurugram with their daughter, said they will be visiting their hometown Lucknow to cast their votes. ”PM Modi has done a lot of work, we will vote for them,” they said.

Many couples living in the Millennium city are making short trips to hills with the heatwave not helping in increasing the voter turnout in North India.
Amid speculations of lower turnout in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, a report by SBI Research said patterns emerging from the first four phases of polling show 2.5 crore more people have voted compared to the last general election in 2019.

“These first four phases have ensured close to 45.1 crore voters having cast their votes (as compared to 42.6 crore voters casting their votes in the same constituencies in 2019) culminating into 66.95 percent voters’ turnout. Our base case estimates at this juncture puts the incremental number of voters, over and above 2019,” said the report released on Monday.