42 Lakh More Youngsters to Vote in 5 States: How ECI's Electoral Roll Call Helped

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced the schedule for the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections in five states – Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana. The reforms introduced by the ECI last year will allow 42 lakh additional young voters to exercise their franchise, official data shows.

The polling in five states will start from November 7 with Chhattisgarh and Mizoram. Chhattisgarh will go to polls in two phases – first on November 7 and then November 17. Polling in Madhya Pradesh will take place on November 17. Single-phase polling in Rajasthan and Telangana will take place on November 23 and 30, respectively.

THE REFORMS

Last year in July, the ECI had announced that those above 17 years of age can apply in advance to enroll their names to the voters’ list and won’t necessarily have to await the pre-requisite criterion of attaining the age of 18 years on January 1. This started with last year’s annual revision of the electoral roll.

From this year, the poll body also allowed quarterly updation of the electoral roll and eligible youngsters can be registered in the next quarter of the year, in which they have attained the qualifying age of 18 years, according to the ECI.

The electoral roll is now updated every quarter with additional qualifying dates – April 1, July 1 and October 1.

THE IMPACT

With these new reforms, around 42 lakh voters who turned 18 between January 1 and October 1 are now eligible to vote in the upcoming elections.

More than half of these new voters are from Rajasthan alone – 22.04 lakh voters.

Next is MP with 11.29 lakh young voters.

Chhattisgarh (2.63 lakh), Mizoram (0.50 lakh) and Telangana (5.32 lakh) have also benefitted from the reforms.

In total, the five states have around 17 crore voters, highest in MP at 5.61 crore, followed by Rajasthan (5.26 crore), Telangana (3.17 crore), Chhattisgarh (2.03 crore), and Mizoram (8.56 lakh).

‘UPDATED ROLLS: THE FOUNDATION OF FREE, FAIR, CREDIBLE POLLS’

“The Commission firmly believes that pure and updated electoral rolls are the foundation of free, fair and credible elections. Hence, intensive and sustained focus is placed upon improving its quality, health and fidelity,” Rajiv Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) said on Monday.

He also said that after the amendment in the Section 14 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 by the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, there is a provision of four qualifying dates to enrol as a voter in a year.

“Accordingly, Commission has conducted the Special Summary Revision of Electoral Roll in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana with reference to October 1, as the qualifying date,” he said.

After the time-bound completion of the Special Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls, the final publication of the electoral roll was done on October 4.