Two months' time to modify voters' list

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anil Kumar Jha on Monday said people across the State can include their names or get any modification done in the voters’ list, during the next two months.

Addressing reporters, he said the Office of Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, (OCEO) will continue to receive form 6 for inclusion of names in the voters' list. “All those who are aged 18 and above as on January 1, 2014, can include their names in the voters' list. The process will go on till the last date of filing nomination papers for the coming Lok Sabha polls,” he added.

The general elections are expected to be held in April and May. The Election Commission of India is likely to issue the calendar of events for the polls in March. 

In other words, people will get about two months to include their names or get any modification done in the voters' list. One can include one’s name either online or manually at the local ward office. 

As per the revised voters' list published on January 31,2014, the State has a total 4,46,43,877 voters. Of them, 2,07,78,644 are male and 2,18, 65,233 female. Compared with the revised voters' list published on January 31, 2013, about 28 lakh new voters have been included in the list. Bangalore Urban district, comprising 28 Assembly constituencies, has 72,62,265 voters. The total number of voters in Bangalore has increased by 8,21,120 in the last one year, Jha said. 

During the revision in the last three months of November, December and January, about 75,249 duplicate names were found in the list and they have been deleted. About 26,420 errors of various kinds have been removed.

Increase in young voters

Of 28 lakh new voters included in one year, about eight lakh are in the age group of 18 to 19, which is about 60 per cent of the total new voters in the list. 

However, Bangalore, which has earned the dubious distinction of voters’ apathy, is lagging behind in electoral coverage. Bangalore Urban district has 66.77 per cent coverage against the total population, and against the State average of 69.60 per cent. 

Gender ratio

The State's electoral gender ratio, as per the revision, is 960 (that is, there are 960 female voters against every 1,000 male voters, while last year it was 956.) As per the State population data (2011 census figures), electoral gender ratio should be 973.

 “There is still scope for improvement. The OCEO will focus on it in the coming days,”  he added.

Bellary (62.30 per cent), Bidar (65.76 per cent) Koppal (65.59 per cent) and Belgaum (65.83 per cent) lag behind in electoral gender ratio, while Tumkur, Davangere, Mangalore and Chikmagalur top the list, he said. The OCEO has achieved 99.27 per cent coverage of electoral photo identity cards (EPIC). It was 98.97 per cent last year.