Youth in the age group of 18-19 years enrolled as voters in the Lok Sabha elections number 5,56,702, constituting 2.3 per cent of the electorate.
Voters in the age group of 20-60 numbering 20,181,660 constitute 83.22 per cent of the electorate while elders aged more than 60 years (numbering 35,13,580) form 14.49 per cent, Chief Electoral Officer Nalini Netto said here on Friday.
Addressing a press conference, the Chief Electoral Officer said there were 2,42,51,942 voters in the State excluding service voters, marking an increase of about 10 per cent over 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Of them, 1,25,70,439 were women and 1,16,81,503 were men.
Ms. Netto said that basic minimum facilities such as open space, separate entrance and exit, drinking water, electricity, adequate furniture, waiting area, and toilets were being provided in polling stations as the Election Department was readying to conduct the polling.
The polling this time would be from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (extended by an hour). As many as 269 contesting candidates were in the arena, including 27 women.
The total number of polling stations in the State has gone up by 948 to 20,476 compared to 2009 elections. There is an increase in polling locations also. Booth number 2 in Kochi will have the lowest number of voters—20. There are 10 polling stations with less than 100 voters. The higher number of voters will be at booth No. 120 at Central School in Ernakulam.
The Election Department has trained more than 1.5 lakh persons for poll duty. About 1.05 lakh persons, including 88,122 women, will be deployed to polling booths. About 30 ballot units of electronic voting machines and 24,601 control units were being readied for the polls. The Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, and Ernakulam constituencies with more than 15 candidates will have two inter-connected ballot units.
