As T-shirts flaunt No Votes, No Taxes, as placards shout All Politicians Are Terrorists, as talking heads on TV work up their anger over the “system,” here’s pouring some cold water on the fiery rage: voters in five states are evidently not listening. And even if they are, they are expressing themselves via something no protest can hold a candle to — their vote.

In Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and in Mizoram, citizens were queuing up to choose their politicians. All five states went to polls after the terror strikes in Mumbai. Four recorded a higher than a 14-year average turnout. The fifth, Mizoram, was slightly lower than its average, but at over 70 per cent, its turnout was still the highest among the five. Madhya Pradesh exceeded its past record, in fact, setting a new one with a turnout of 69.31 per cent.

The facts, the figures:

• According to the state’s chief electoral officer, Rajasthan today posted a voter turnout between 65 to 68 per cent. The average Assembly turnout in the state between 1989 and 2003, has been 60.4 per cent. Turnout has been steadily rising in Rajasthan since 1980. With the contest becoming more tightly bi-polar, and due to the competitive mobilization of lower caste, particularly OBC voters, by the Congress and BJP, it increased from 51.1 per cent in 1980 to 67.2 per cent in 2003. This election, it appears, will maintain this upward trend.

• The Delhi turnout in this Assembly election ranges from 56.3 per cent on November 29 to 57.25 during repolling in three constituencies on December 1. Average turnout, here, 1989-2003, was 55.4 per cent.

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