E-Paper
17+ can apply for Voter ID cards in advance, says EC
The Election Commission has enrolled 1.7 million new voters between the ages of 18-19 this year. In 2021, EC added 14.5 million new voters
NEW DELHI: Young people over the age of 17 years can apply in advance to enrol as voters when they turn 18, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Thursday. Their names will appear on the rolls in the quarter following this milestone -- a fact that has also been made possible by the quarterly updation of electoral rolls.
“17+ year old youngsters can now apply in advance for having their names enrolled in voter’s list and not necessarily have to await the pre-requisite criterion of attaining the age of 18 years on 1st January of a year,” the commission said in a statement.
The statement said the commission led by chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and election commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey has directed the chief electoral officers and electoral registration officers of all states to work out technology-enabled solutions to make it possible for young people to file their advance applications with reference to three qualifying dates, April 1, July 1 and October 1, in addition to January 1.
Since the electoral roll was previously updated only on January 1, people who celebrated their 18th birthday in the course of the year had to perforce wait for the following year to enrol, thereby missing out on the opportunity to vote till then.
“For the current round of annual revision of electoral roll, 2023, any citizen attaining the age of 18 years by April 1, July 1 and October 1 of 2023 can also submit an advance application for registration as a voter from the date of draft publication of electoral roll,” the statement said.
In 2021, 14,526,678 (14.5 million) voters in the age between 18 and 19 were added to the list, while in 2022, till July 25, a total of 1,736,181 voters in this age bracket have been inducted, people familiar with the matter said.
The commission has identified areas where the number of voters was less than its estimates and directed booth-level workers to undertake extensive awareness programmes to bring in new voters.
The commission has also begun the process of linking Aadhaar numbers with Electoral Roll data. “(A) provision has been made in the modified registration forms to seek Aadhaar details of electors. A new Form-6B has also been introduced for collecting the Aadhaar number of existing electors. However, no application for inclusion of name in electoral roll shall be denied and no entries in electoral roll shall be deleted for the inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar Number… it is voluntary,” the statement added.
Advance applications can be submitted on or after November 9, 2022, the date on which the draft electoral roll will be published.
