Lost youth: Voters’ list 17 lakh short of estimates
TNN | Updated: Mar 17, 2019, 05:18 IST
The number of first-time voters registered by the election commission (EC) is about 17 lakh less than the numb... Read MoreBy:
Meghdoot Sharon
The number of first-time voters registered by the election commission (EC) is about 17 lakh less than the number of voters who should have become eligible to vote in Gujarat in the 18-19 years age group if the projected population growth based on the last census is relied upon.
While population growth projections based on the census growth rate claim that 25 lakh first-time voters have been added to the electorate in the last five years, the actual number of registrations added in the last five years in the age group of 18-19 years was just 7.67 lakh until January 2019 on electoral rolls.
Election commission officials say that another 3 lakh-odd applications have been received since January 2019 in the 18-19 years age group, but the figure still falls 50% short of the numbers indicated by census projections.
A similar pattern is observed in the 20-29 age group as well. According to census growth rate projections, about 1.26 crore new voters ought to have been added to this category in the last five years, but till date, only 99 lakh have actually registered in the voters’ list. This comes to a shortfall of 30 lakh.
Chief electoral officer, Gujarat, S Murali Krishna, said, "The figures arrived at from census projections are not likely to match the actual growth because of several factors. However, census-based growth projection is the only available yardstick for comparison."
He added that these figures are based on January 2019 data and since then, about 6.50 lakh new applications for getting included in the voters’ list have been received in the state, of which about 50,000 are online applications, while the remaining are offline.
A majority of the youth in the 18-19 and 20-29 age group are tech-savvy and prefer registering themselves online as voters. Those who have attempted to register online say that Form 6 of the National Voters Service
Portal is filled with glitches and it is extremely difficult to get registered online as a voter.
The number of first-time voters registered by the election commission (EC) is about 17 lakh less than the number of voters who should have become eligible to vote in Gujarat in the 18-19 years age group if the projected population growth based on the last census is relied upon.
While population growth projections based on the census growth rate claim that 25 lakh first-time voters have been added to the electorate in the last five years, the actual number of registrations added in the last five years in the age group of 18-19 years was just 7.67 lakh until January 2019 on electoral rolls.
Election commission officials say that another 3 lakh-odd applications have been received since January 2019 in the 18-19 years age group, but the figure still falls 50% short of the numbers indicated by census projections.
A similar pattern is observed in the 20-29 age group as well. According to census growth rate projections, about 1.26 crore new voters ought to have been added to this category in the last five years, but till date, only 99 lakh have actually registered in the voters’ list. This comes to a shortfall of 30 lakh.
Chief electoral officer, Gujarat, S Murali Krishna, said, "The figures arrived at from census projections are not likely to match the actual growth because of several factors. However, census-based growth projection is the only available yardstick for comparison."
He added that these figures are based on January 2019 data and since then, about 6.50 lakh new applications for getting included in the voters’ list have been received in the state, of which about 50,000 are online applications, while the remaining are offline.
A majority of the youth in the 18-19 and 20-29 age group are tech-savvy and prefer registering themselves online as voters. Those who have attempted to register online say that Form 6 of the National Voters Service
Portal is filled with glitches and it is extremely difficult to get registered online as a voter.
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