The number of first-time voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years in Delhi’s electoral roll is just over a lakh, much fewer than it was supposed to be, given the fact that the age group constitutes about 3-4% of the city’s total population, the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh said Thursday.

Delhi, with a population of over 1 crore, has nearly 4-6 lakh aged 18 and 19 years, Singh said, while talking about the preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The CEO’s office will start a voter awareness drive across the city, including colleges and universities, urging the young voters to get registered in the voters’ list.

“We appeal to all first-time voters to register with us and participate in the voting exercise. We have conduced mock poll sessions in Delhi University and IIT-Delhi, among others, to raise awareness. We will be holding more such camps to ensure more young voters come out and vote,” Singh said.

Also, he said all voters must themselves check their names on the electoral roll instead of believing “misleading” phone calls about deletion of names from the list. The CEO’s office said they had received around 30 such complaints about deletion of names from the electoral roll.

A controversy had erupted after Aam Aadmi Party alleged that at least 30 lakh names were deleted from the electoral rolls. Earlier this month, there was another controversy after the BJP accused AAP workers of calling citizens on their cellphones and warning them that 30 lakh names were deleted by the EC.

“A police complaint was filed and the calls are being looked into,” Singh said.

The CEO’s office will hold special camps across 2,696 polling stations across Delhi on February 23 and 24, to urge people to check their names on the list as well as to register themselves, in case they are yet to do so.

“The final publication of Delhi’s electoral roll listed 1.36 crore voters. From November 1, 2018, fresh forms for enrolment were received from 2.18 lakh voters and about 60% of these have been disposed of, he said.

First Published: Feb 22, 2019 11:45 IST