Maharashtra: Percentage of young voters rises in final electoral rolls before polls

Mumbai: Maharashtra has seen a net addition of 4,12,416 voters with the proportion of voters in the 18 to 29 years age group rising by about one per cent compared to the draft electoral rolls published in October 2023, officials said.

The Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly polls are due this year.

A special summary revision of voter lists had been undertaken with a door-to-door survey campaign for updating the electoral rolls in view of the coming parliamentary and assembly elections in the state.

The percentage of new voters in the final electoral rolls has increased significantly due to the efforts taken under this programme, state chief electoral officer Shrikant Deshpande said on Tuesday.

The total number of eligible voters in the state is around 9.12 crore, as per the official data.

While voters in the 18 to 29 age group showed an increase of around one per cent, those in 40 to 80-plus years bracket declined by three per cent compared to the draft electoral rolls.

The programme was launched on October 27, 2023, when the draft electoral rolls were published, and went on till January 23, 2024, Deshpande said.

The names of 24,33,766 electors were registered or added and those of 20,21,350 deleted.

There was, thus, a net addition of 4,12,416 electors while the total number of voters in the final electoral roll is 9,12,44,679, Deshpande said.

The number of male voters increased by 1,01,869, female voters by 3,08,306 and the number of third-gender voters went up by 572.

The number of females for every 1,000 males has increased from 917 to 922 in the electoral roll.

As many as 6,70,302 electors were added in the age group of 18 to 19 years, and 8,33,496 electors were added in the age bracket of 20 to 29 years.

A total of 11,60,696 dead electors were deleted. Out of them, 4,92,395 were above the age of 80 years.

Similarly, 9,05,559 electors with similar photographs (photo similar entries) were found in the electoral rolls and after a thorough scrutiny, the names of 2,84,620 electors were deleted, Deshpande said.

Also, 2,54,460 electors with similar names and some other details (demographically similar entries) were found, and 74,426 names were deleted after scrutiny.

Deshpande said people should check their names in the electoral roll by visiting the website `Voter Service Portal (https://electoralsearch.eci.gov.in/) and check if all the details are correct.

The people whose names are not in the electoral rolls should fill the application in form number 6 to ensure their right to vote, he added.