Gurugram home to nearly 25 lakh, but less than 11 lakh on voter list

GURUGRAM: It’s a city that wants more say in Haryana politics, a heft that is equitable with its economic might. But less than half of Gurugram’s current population appears on the voter list, shows latest government data, with the general elections just two months away.


Officially, Gurugram district, including its four assembly constituencies, has a population of 23.53 lakh (that number is likely to be higher because of the large number of migrants who come to the city to work). But the number of people enrolled on the city’s electoral rolls as of January 31 this year was 10.82 lakh (46% of the population). Delhi, with 1.3 crore voters, has an enrolment percentage of around 70.



Of the 10.82 lakh registered voters in the city, 5.7 lakh are men and 5.12 lakh are women. The district electoral officials attribute a large number of migrants and lack of awareness on voting rights to low enrolment in the voters’ list. “A large number of people living in Gurugram have migrated from other places seeking jobs. This is one of the reasons for low voter registration,” said a government official.

Gurugram district has one Lok Sabha constituency and four assembly constituencies — Pataudi, Badshapur, Gurugram and Sohna. Of the four assembly seats, Badshapur, represented by PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh, has a population of 7.71 lakh. Of this, only 3.46 lakh are registered voters. The constituency covers most parts of new Gurugram, which have poor connectivity and civic amenities. The Gurugram assembly constituency, with a population of 6.5 lakh, has only 3.19 lakh registered voters. The constituency mainly covers Old Gurugram. In Sohna, of 4.92 lakh people, only 2.09 lakh are on the electoral roll, while in Pataudi 2.06 lakh of 4.4 lakh people are registered voters.

Political parties say “indifference” and a huge floating population are the main reasons for low enrolment. According to BJP, making voting compulsory could be a solution. “The city has a very large migrant population which doesn’t seem to be interested in registering on the voter list. Voting should be made compulsory and linked with Aadhaar so that subsidy benefits linked with Aadhaar can be blocked if a person does not vote,” said Raman Malik, a BJP spokesperson.

Dalbir Dhankar, spokesperson for the newly formed Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), also spoke along similar lines. “They (migrant population) live here and earn lakhs but don’t cast their votes. They don’t have a sense of belongingness. They don’t want to involve themselves in the city’s development,” Dhankar said. “It’s unfortunate and is a big fault on part of the government,” said Sudhir Yadav of AAP. “If only a few people vote, it defeats the purpose of democracy.”

Haryana chief electoral officer Rajiv Ranjan said every citizen of the country should vote to strengthening democracy. “As per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, special campaigns are organised every year from January 1 in each state to urge people to register themselves as voters,” he said.