EC to hold drives to enrol over 10 million voters

Although Maharashtra has 90.3 million registered voters, as many as 3.7 million of 4.5 million first-time voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years have yet to register themselves. Similarly, of the 22.8 million voters in the age group of 20 to 29 years, only 16.4 million are registered

Mumbai: The Election Commission (EC) has announced a summary revision of the electoral roll ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April-May 2024. A drive will be undertaken to facilitate the registration of new voters with emphasis on over 10 million young voters in the age group of 18 to 29 and the deletion of over 16 million repeated voters who are either dead, shifted or absent from their address.

The EC will also undertake voter registration programmes by setting up weekend camps in September-October in the vicinity of voters’ residences. Voters can also register themselves or make changes in their voter ID cards by submitting online applications on the EC website (https://eci.gov.in). (HT PHOTO)

Although Maharashtra has 90.3 million registered voters, as many as 3.7 million of 4.5 million first-time voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years have yet to register themselves. Similarly, of the 22.8 million voters in the age group of 20 to 29 years, only 16.4 million are registered.

To help young voters register themselves ahead of the general elections, the EC has decided to conduct camps in schools and colleges. “We are requesting the higher and technical education department to hold special camps,” said Shrikant Deshpande, chief electoral officer, Maharashtra. “Apart from that, we are roping in booth-level agents affiliated to various political parties to work alongside our booth-level officers (BLOs) during their door-to-door visits for registration. The agents have been allowed to collect and submit 10 applications a day from potential voters.”

Deshpande said the BLOs would start visiting homes to collect information for registration and deletion from July 21. “The drive will culminate with the announcement of eligible voters, including first-timers who will turn 18 this year,” he said.

When asked about deletions, Deshpande said there were around 20 percent or over 16 million names in the electoral rolls that needed to be deleted as the persons were either dead, absent or had shifted. “We undertook a random revision of voters over 80 years and found that 23 percent of 31 lakh voters had either shifted or died,” he said. “Similarly, among the 32 lakh voters with blurred or B/W pictures on their voter cards, 26 percent were found to have shifted or died. They have been deleted.”

The EC will also undertake voter registration programmes by setting up weekend camps in September-October in the vicinity of voters’ residences. Voters can also register themselves or make changes in their voter ID cards by submitting online applications on the EC website (https://eci.gov.in).