Voter enrolment among the young people in the age group of 18-21 years is dismally low in what seems to be an indication of continued apathy among young men and women in participatory democratic functioning of the country.
Data compiled by the Guntur Municipal Corporation shows that the percentage of voter enrolment in the age group of 18-19 years is just 0.96 per cent in Guntur West Constituency and 0.71 per cent in Guntur East Constituency.
Out of 2,33,464 voters in Guntur West, the number of voters in 18 to 19 years is just 2,238, while it is 1,454 out of 2,05,575 voters in Guntur East Constituency.
The voter enrolment in the age group of 20 to 30 years is marginally higher with percentages of 22.91 for Guntur West Constituency and 23.08 per cent in Guntur East Constituency.
Voters in the age group of 31 to 39 years are the most in number in both the Guntur West and East Constituencies.
The special summary revision of electoral rolls would be completed by December 10. Applications are available at polling stations on Sundays, election cell at GMC and in the website http://eci.nic.in/eci/eci. html.
Additional Commissioner, GMC and Electoral Revision Officer P. Srinivasulu attributed the low rate of enrolment among young men and women due to lack of awareness about voter enrolment, lack of interest in political affairs, and a general apathy to political functioning.
The indifferent attitude of Booth Level Officers to motivate people to enrol as voters was also one of the reasons. The BLO supposed to be present at the polling stations were found to be absent on Sundays.
Campaign
Mr. Srinivasulu said a special drive to attract more young people to enrol was being taken up under Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) - a campaign of continuous engagement with public, civil society groups, educational institutions and media. Teams from the Election Cell have been visiting colleges and conducting awareness campaigns. Student ambassadors are being entrusted with the task of facilitating voter enrolment by collecting application forms from the students.
Mr. Srinivasulu has also been taking part in live discussions in various local satellite channels to educate about voter enrolment.
