The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ‘71 lakh people only unregistered eligible voters’

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Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘71 lakh people only unregistered eligible voters’

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Chief Electoral Officer I.V. Subba Rao has said there are an estimated 71 lakh people in the State in different age groups above 18 years who still remained without enrolling themselves as voters, though they are eligible voters. He clarified that these people were not bogus voters as described in reports that appeared in a section of the press and said they were merely unregistered eligible voters. At a press conference here on Tuesday, he said youth in the age group of 18-20 years numbered 29 lakh among these unregistered voters, forming a major portion in this chunk of population. It was for this reason that the Election Commission had taken up Young Tarang to enrol them. Efforts were also on to enrol others.

“We want at least 95 per cent of the eligible voters in the State to be covered by elector photo identity cards (EPIC) for ensuing elections to curtail impersonation”. As yet another measure towards this end, booth level officers who played key role in enrolment, would be deployed at the booths on polling day. A decision had been taken to appoint retired teachers/employees as BLOs where there was manpower shortage, he said. He said the voters’ strength (5.7 crore) constituted 67 per cent of the State’s population and this was well within the EC norms.

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Andhra Pradesh