No recommendation by EC to lower voting age to 16

"No such proposal has been made by the Election Commission to the government. There is no recommendation to this type by the Commission or the Chief Election Commissioner, the EC said in a press release.

Referring to reports, it said that an "erroneous impression" has been created in this regard.
CEC S Y Quraishi was responding to a student's suggestion at a recent academic forum in Bhubaneshwar that the voting age should be reduced to 16 in view of the fact that the youth in the country was maturing early progressively, it said.

The CEC maintained that the EC was currently focusing on ensuring fullest participation of the newly eligible 18-year-olds in the electoral process.

"EC has the duty to bring all eligible citizens of the country on the electoral roll. The Commissioin finds it particularly challenging that the newly eligible voters in the 18-19 age group do not register. The enrolment in this age group in some areas is as low as 20 per cent", the release said.