CHANDIGARH: A pre-election, all-India survey on governance issues and voting behaviour has found that better employment opportunities, agriculture loan availability and higher price realisation of farm products are the top-three priorities of voters in Punjab and Haryana.

The survey, conducted by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) from October 2018 to December 2018, covered 534 Lok Sabha constituencies and had participation of over 2.7 lakh voters. The survey, in which at least 500 voters were interviewed in each constituency, was aimed to identify voters’ priorities on governance issues, their ratings of the government's performance on these issues, and factors affecting voting behaviour.

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data released earlier this year also shows India's unemployment rate rose to a 45-year high during the 2017-18 fiscal and reached 6.1%. Urban voters in Punjab have also listed water and air pollution, and better hospitals and primary health-care centres, as their priorities. Voters in Haryana’s urban areas think traffic congestion and water and air pollution must be addressed on priority. However, it has also come to fore that voters of both these agrarian states believe that the Centre as well as the state government have performed below average on all these issues. Punjab has 13 seats and Haryana 10.

‘Jobs matter in HP’

In neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, which has four Lok Sabha constituencies, voters’ top-three priorities include better employment opportunities, availability of water for agriculture and better hospitals as well as primary health care centres. In the urban areas of Himachal Pradesh, voters feel school education and eradication of corruption are also important issues, which need to be addressed. Voters from Himachal Pradesh, who participated in the survey said the government had performed below average to address these issues.

After analysing the outcome of the survey, the ADR has concluded, “In past two years, governments in power, both at Centre and state/UT level, have neglected voters’ priorities. This is conspicuous in the poor and the underwhelming performance of a majority of governments across states/UTs on top governance issues as rated by their respective voters.” The NGO has recommended that there was a need to reset some priorities to reflect what the voters really need and to improve governance.

UT’s problems

Voters in Chandigarh, with a single Lok Sabha seat, felt water, air and noise pollution and better hospitals and primary health centres are the most important issues for them and rated the government’s performance as below average on these issues.

In the interim Union Budget for 2018-19, only 2.1% of the total budget has been allocated to healthcare, which is less than the 2.4% allocated in 2017-18.